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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27858198">of rewriting the stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/n_owsy/pseuds/n_owsy'>n_owsy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mastering the art [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Actors, Alternate Universe - Actors, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Dream SMP Ensemble are Actors, Dream Team SMP Roleplay (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, Inspired by Twitter, L'Manberg War of Independence on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), References to Canon, Social Media, The Disc War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:08:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>38,590</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27858198</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/n_owsy/pseuds/n_owsy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If there’s one thing that TommyInnit wishes with his whole heart — it is to die a tragic death on screen. For the mark of all great actors is a memorable character death that strikes every avid watcher with a sense of finality and sorrow, and the day Tommy accomplishes that dream is the day Wilbur will go into retirement.</p><p><i> I don’t die easy, pal.</i> Tommy had stubbornly told him. <i>But my point still stands. I just want to die like a main character, y’know? </i></p><p><i>You have an absurd concept of what the height of character development is,</i> Wilbur had replied, with furrowed eyebrows over a cup of coffee. <i>You and your teen angst bullshit.</i></p><p>He just didn’t know it would happen somewhere around the first week of filming. </p><p>[Alternatively: Wilbur wants to tell a story. Everybody that grudgingly comes along blows up on the big screen with him, too.</p><p>Or: the Dream SMP Actors AU.]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alyssa | ItsAlyssa &amp; Ponk | DropsByPonk, Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Eret &amp; Floris | Fundy &amp; Niki | Nihachu, Grayson | Purpled &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mastering the art [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>65</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>439</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. where it all started (episode 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It’s Izzy here, and I’m just here to say: my writing sucks. I have come face to face with it, and that is entirely my fault for not writing for a long time. But I also really wanted to write down this AU to fulfill all my headcanons after seeing the dmspactorsau tag on Twitter, so.</p><p>1. Not always accurate. Will have to change some stuff to make it fit thematically.<br/>2. I use a fair share of tweeting and texting for stuff, too. Essentially, you can call this the chatfic, the Social Media AU and the Actors AU all in one sitting.<br/>3. I don’t have a stable upload schedule, but I hope my long-ass updates could make up for that.<br/>4. AU ideas belong to @charliewastaken and @koyfishh on Twitter. Some ideas belong to the #dsmpactors tag :]<br/>5. Currently on hiatus. My writing style has improved since this, and I am looking forward to polishing this up before I do any updates. Enjoy this silly indulgent fic, folks.</p><p>I encourage it if you called me out for stuff like OOC-ness or grammar and stuff. Feedback helps a lot in writing my silly little fics. I don’t mind if this gets shared around, either :] </p><p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tommy opens his eyes, and the world declares: “This is where it all started.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>edit: this entire project is currently undergoing for some very hefty editing and polishing before the posting of the next chapter. have fun, guys :]</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p2">
  <span class="s2"> <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 1: WHERE IT ALL STARTED<br/></strong> </span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">It’s quiet.</span>
</p><p class="p2"><span class="s2">There is a certain kind of peace in the few minutes of night before dawn strikes, where the trees </span>stand silent and the shadows fall over the ground, shielding hostile mobs that retreat into the underground.</p><p class="p2">There’s a certain kind of peace in anticipation of what the sun will bring.</p><p class="p3">The world stands still, and it holds its’ breath.</p><p class="p3">A figure tumbles through the air, screaming bloody murder as he plummets through the clouds.</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Fuck! <em>Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck</em>—” The blond-haired boy cusses as he falls through the air and hits branches, flinging out his arms in front of him to slow his fall — or shield his face from getting scratched, <em>you think he knows what the fuck he’s doing?</em> — as he tumbles through a grove of spruce trees with a new collection of splinters.</span>
</p><p class="p3">He flails as he falls out of the last set of branches, and lands roughly on his stomach. He spits out a leaf. Maybe two.</p><p class="p3">It takes him a while, but he takes a deep breath. “What the <em>f</em><em>uck</em>,” he says in annoyance as he rolls away from the patch of grass he landed on, trying to get the feeling back in his body.</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“What a stupid way to enter a new server,” he grumbles to the night, his voice muffled as he sits up. He hisses as some splinters manage to dig deeper into his skin.</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Tommy opens his eyes, his hand shielding them as the first rays of gold peak through dark skies, lighting up the entire valley in warm hues of gold, orange, red, and pinks. He tears his eyes away from it, and grumbles as he starts painfully plucking splinters from his skin.</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">The sun emerges, with the promise of a new era.</span>
</p><p class="p3">(And the world declares — this is where it all started.)</p><hr/><p class="p2">
  <strong>ON THE OUTDOOR SET; PLAINS</strong>
</p><p class="p2">If there’s one thing that TommyInnit wishes with his whole heart — it is to die a tragic death on screen. For the mark of all great actors is a memorable character death that strikes every avid watcher with a sense of finality and sorrow, and the day Tommy accomplishes that dream is the day Wilbur will go into retirement.</p><p class="p2"><em>I don’t die easy, pal</em>. Tommy had stubbornly told him. <em>But my point still stands. I just want to die like a main character, y’know?</em></p><p class="p2"><em>You have an absurd concept of what the height of character development is, </em>Wilbur had replied, with furrowed eyebrows over a cup of coffee. <em>You and your teen angst bullshit.</em></p><p class="p2">He just didn’t know it would happen somewhere around the first week of filming.</p><p class="p2">“My back’s dead,” Tommy hollers at the same time Wilbur claps and calls for a cut as the blond flops down dramatically on the grass, the rising sun shining on his face as the crew scrambles around the outdoor set, preparing to set up the green screen.</p><p class="p2">He huffs, tugging on the harness, the breath knocked out of him. Still in one piece, but with... splinters. Tommy grimaces. He <em>hates</em> splinters, and he knows that he already pulled out most of the splinters sticking out of him earlier — so where the fuck were they coming from, now? </p><p class="p2">Some from the production crew flock to him, unhooking hooks and unraveling knots as they help him out of the safety gear — faster than he ever could on his own.</p><p class="p2">He exhales loudly, and contemplates complaining again about his back, but he’s safe and on the ground, and <em>god</em>. He pats himself all over. God, he sure fucking hopes that he doesn’t have to go through this shit again—</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“You have wardrobe,” Wilbur continues to drone on. “We need you up and ready for another take.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Tommy groans, and his hope of a bright, bright future wherein he doesn’t have to go through this kind of entrance gets curb-stomped, and spat at. This is child abuse. He’s pretty sure that you can die from bleeding out from having too many small holes poked in your body. That’s a thing. “Fuck off,” he loudly says, and punctuates it with wild gestures. “When I said I wanted to die — I meant <em>character death</em>, you bitch, not making me go through this kind of hell for another <em>hour</em>.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“We might need to get that from another angle, so take five minutes and get moving,” Wilbur pointedly ignores him as he flips through the script. “Also, your teen angst bullshit is reserved for later seasons. I already <em>told </em>you this.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">Tommy resists the urge to drag his hands over his face. He genuinely wants to <em>not</em> do it — but on the other hand, a job is a job. Sure, he could get a stunt double, but then that would take all the fun out of filming.</p><p class="p2">That and he did wake up at this god-awful time of the day just to film this particular scene. It might be Tommy’s fault he agreed to this — <em>he auditioned, got the part, and his parents signed a contract and everything </em>— but it is totally Wilbur’s fault. He just enjoyed seeing the teen suffer for some bizarre reason he couldn’t understand.</p><p class="p2">(Wilbur disagreed with him, and specifically told him why. <em>All this unnecessary tension and aggression stemmed back from the SMPEarth production</em>, he claims, <em>because this is justified and because you, TommyInnit, are a little bitch.</em></p><p class="p2">Tommy remembers being offended by that. Rightfully so, and if he made it his goal to continue pissing the director off as much as legally possible without getting kicked off the cast, then who would blame him?)</p><p class="p2"><span class="s2">Well, just because it was a safely controlled environment where wires guided him falling down through a grove of </span> <span class="s3"> <em>real trees</em> </span> <span class="s2"> with </span> <span class="s3"><em>real wood splinters</em> doesn’t mean it didn’t fucking <em>hurt</em>. </span> <span class="s2">He shakes his splintered sleeves even harder at him for emphasis. </span></p><p class="p3"><span class="s2">The director sips from his cup of coffee, </span> <span class="s2">letting out his own huge, melodramatic sigh.<br/></span></p><p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">What a hypocrite.</span>
</p><p class="p3">“We’re on a tight schedule for the pilot episode, Tommy,” he reminds him. “If you’re gonna waste your time being dramatic, well...” he drifts off.</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Tommy sends him a glare, stalking away towards his assigned room. And you know what? It is a glare that could evidently make grown men cry and shake in their boots but by some miracle of God, the asshole is apparently immune to it, because. Look at the man, sipping coffee again, looking like nothing bothered him in the world except for the looming, ominous threat of the deadline coming up.</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">He pushes open the door, and slumps down on the nearest chair as he gets swarmed by the make-up team, who retouches the scratches on his face and his arms, groaning as he gets handed another red shirt to change into, and fumbles around for his water bottle. <em>Where is it? He’s pretty sure he just left it here thirty minutes ago—</em></span>
</p><p class="p2"><span class="s2">Dream waves the axe prop at him from behind the chair, grinning as he slips into the dressing room. He plucks </span> <span class="s2">the bottle from underneath the table, and passes it to him. <em>Oh right, there it is.</em> “Hey Tommy,” he greets as he sits down into the seat beside him as someone passes Dream his mask. “What’s up?”</span></p><p class="p3">“Me again, that’s what,” Tommy grumbles. He understands the co-director’s attempt at small talk but unfortunately, he is still mentally preparing to get dropped down a grove of trees again. That and he <em>can’t</em> spare time to be intimidated by the renowned actor when somewhere in the future, his character becomes an asshole to Tommy. He is <em>not</em> looking forward to that.</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Dream sympathetically pats his shoulder. “You know you can ask for a stunt double if it bothers you this much, right?”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Tommy considers it for a moment, but shakes it away. Again, being dropped sucks, but a job is a job — that, and he never gets allowed to do his stunts. He is not gonna pass this up. “Nah, it’s cool.” He waves it away as he takes a sip from his bottle of water, and watches as Dream straps on his ceramic mask. “Thanks for the concern, anyway.”</span>
</p><p class="p3">He can’t see the man’s face, but he’s pretty sure he hears him smile underneath it. Tommy heard that the mask was ceramic, and it isn’t comfortable to walk around that easily. Props to the blond, he guesses. “Sure. See you on our scene later!” Dream lightly calls as he exits the room. Presumably to bother George or someone else.</p><p class="p3">Tommy really does envy the man. He envies the man’s optimism and his luck as an award-winning actor who blew up on a self-made, self-budgeted project that jumpstarted his career, and someone who also didn’t get dropped through trees for an introduction. Lucky him.</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">He pauses for a moment once his brain catches up. “Wait, we have a scene together <em>today</em></span>
  <span class="s3">
    <em>?</em>
  </span>
  <span class="s2">”</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p3">
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET, BACKGROUND</strong>
</p><p class="p3">Ponk narrows his eyes. “Listen,” he starts, his voice low to avoid being picked up by the camera. “If that kid does anything to my second lemon tree, I will commit mass murder.”</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Alyssa sneaks a peek down from her position on the set as the kid passes Ponk’s famed lemon tree, fanning herself with her hand. They’re both roasting in the midday sun. Why did she choose a sweater for her character again? “Don’t worry Ponk. He’s all bark and no bite,” She waves off. “All he’s doing is talking down your lemon tree.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Apparently, all this does is strike a nerve with Ponk. He mock-gasps and looks down at the kid, squinting at the ground to avoid the sunlight shining in his eyes. “Not my lemon tree,” he says heatedly. “That’s an attack on my honor.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Alyssa pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry. If he pulls another George arson spree, you know Dream and Wilbur would make the kid grow you another lemon tree,” she assures him, and side-eyes the kid. “Maybe you could sic Bad as a lawyer on him, and make another hilarious vlog, or whatever you guys do.”</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Ponk shrugs and uses his arms to pillow his wrapped head on the railing. If she’s being honest — he’s not doing so good, either. He’s wrapped up in more layers of clothing than what Alyssa wears, so it’s not that surprising that both of them are itching to get down from their spot.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">She just wants to go down after their recording session as background characters are over — but if Ponk wants to go down to cause drama, then that’s fine with her. “Maybe. That could be a good idea,” he says, and calms down.</span>
</p><p class="p2"><span class="s2">Until </span>the kid catches his eye again.</p><p class="p2"><span class="s2">Listen. Alyssa has known Ponk for a long time, and he is generally an alright guy. He doesn’t have any issues with property and <em>etcetera</em> on the outdoor set because of how huge it is but. That’s </span> <span class="s3"><em>his</em> </span> <span class="s2">land. Where he built </span> <span class="s3"><em>his</em> lemon tree. </span> <span class="s2">Despite what the script calls for, he will <em>not</em> be bullied around on a property he rightfully owns through the first call of <em>dibs. </em></span></p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Not on my watch, you’re not,” he mutters, and climbs down from his assigned position with Alyssa. Which is fine by her because it means <em>freedom.</em></span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Alyssa heads back down, wishing for a cup of iced tea. It’s really hot standing in a cramped space on the outdoor set and she’s pretty sure she’s done being filmed as a background character now that the camera is down. She’s also pretty sure that Ponk is heatedly asking Wilbur for a chance to have a conflict with the child. She can’t tell if it’s because Ponk is having fun or if it’s because he’s halfway through a heatstroke waiting to happen — but she <em>sure</em> hopes that if the latter happens, at least Ponk is having fun.</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Because knowing Wilbur? Well.</span>
</p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">She’s not about to stand around for any longer than what she was required to do. If Ponk needs her, he knows where to find her, anyways.</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p2">
  <strong>DREAM TEAM’S TRAILER; AFTER FILMING</strong>
</p><p class="p2">”Ugh,” George scowls as he opens the door to the shared trailer.</p><p class="p2">He slumps down beside Dream after the make-up session, his ceramic mask lying down on the table as the man scrolls through social media. “Why did you have to write me getting continually harassed by a sixteen-year-old child?” He complains as he crosses his arms. <br/><br/>Dream barely hides a laugh as he puts down his drink. He takes his sweet, sweet time going through the paper bag on his table and slides George a drink in apology for this moment alone. “First off, it’s hilarious,” he tells George, who grudgingly takes the offering and begins to sip. “Second of all: to be fair, he got temporarily exiled, taken to jail and died a lot of times in the first twenty minutes.”</p><p class="p2">George eyes him from the side, and picks at his blue sweater for lint as he sets down his drink. He feels his scowl growing deeper. <em>You shouldn’t frown this much</em>, he remembers Alyssa telling him earlier. Something about getting frown wrinkles at a young age and trying to avoid that?</p><p class="p2">Alyssa means well, but he ignores the advice.</p><p class="p2">“Would’ve been funnier if he didn’t keep calling me <em>bitch boy </em>every twenty seconds,” he mutters vehemently.</p><p class="p2">Dream wheezes like a tea kettle. How his lungs carried him through all twenty-one years of his life without giving out when he laughed like that, George would never find out. George hopes his lungs give out sometime in the near future.</p><p class="p2">“That’s on Wilbur; don’t blame me,” the blond cracks as he holds his hands up in the air in a sign of surrender. “I can’t believe all of the footage we got in the Courthouse was basically cut down to <em>three minutes </em>because you invited a minor to sleep beside you—“</p><p class="p2">George splutters, and turns around to face Dream as his hands shake. He almost spills his drink, and by God, he is ready to dump it down his friend’s face. “Fuck off,” he almost shouts. “No, shut up<em> — shut up, Dream. </em>We already killed him repeatedly in the fifteen minutes we spent there and there was basically no useable footage because of the fact that <em>we already killed him thirty times before it.</em> Shut up.”</p><p class="p2">Dream wheezes again, and <em>ohhh</em>, he picks up the ceramic mask threateningly. He already mentally plans it out in his head. Either he throws it like a frisbee in the hopes it breaks his nose, or he just smashes it all in Dream’s face. Either way, it will be satisfying. </p><p class="p2">Someone knocks on their trailer door.</p><p class="p2">Wilbur peeks his head through the door, interrupting George’s mini rage tantrum. “Hey guys, Tommy’s done with his build scene, we just need to do a retake of the jail scene before your sessions are done. Come out when you’re ready,” he says amusedly, arching an eyebrow at Dream hunched over in his seat while George has the mask over his head, ready to throw it.</p><p class="p2">”Don’t question it,” George says as Dream laughs hard enough to reach the point where he’s a little concerned for his lungs because the silent laughing has been going on for at least fifteen seconds and he may need to contact an ambulance — but it’s Dream he’s talking about, so he just glares at Wilbur until the director gets the cue, and shuts the door behind him.</p><p class="p2">This heathen he calls his friend leans back on his chair, out of George’s hitting range, and snatches the drink off the table. George only watches in disgust as Dream takes off the lid and begins to down his Starbucks drink in one gulp, turning to him.</p><p class="p2">He huffs through his nose, and he grudgingly hands the mask over to Dream.<br/><br/>”How can you even see in this thing?” George asks him, a little calmer now. He watches as Dream pats down the back of his head and tightens the strap.</p><p class="p2">“I fucking <em>don’t</em>,” Dream says amusedly from behind the mask as he faces him. “Ready to be harassed by a child again?”</p><p class="p2">George stares at Dream. What kind of question is that? “Hell no,” he says as he stands up anyways, because Dream is the director and this is his job now.</p><p class="p2">A job is a job, his friend is his friend and he’s not allowed to do any shit that could impair his friends’ health. He signed a contract, and he can restrain himself a little — but then, George kind of wishes that they were filming on Manhunt instead. He has been given a hell lot more freedom there while kicking Dream’s ass, and evidently, he’s not used to not being able to physically hurt Dream as much as he wanted.</p><p class="p2">George sighs dramatically, the exasperation leaking out of his pores as Dream throws him his clout glasses.</p><p class="p2">Time to get the show on the road.</p><hr/><p class="p2">
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p class="p2">
  <strong>TommyInnit | @tommyinnit</strong>
</p><p class="p2">Why does this keep happening. im an innocent man. Dream is a bitch Boy</p><p class="p2">
  <strong> <em>[the picture shows a screenshot of Tommy getting blocked by Dream]</em> </strong>
</p><p class="p2">
  <em>648 comments and 521 retweets</em>
</p><p class="p2">
  <em>18K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p class="p2">
  <strong>Dream✔️|@Dream</strong>
</p><p class="p2">lmao someone’s getting harassed by a child</p><p class="p2">
  <em>2.6K comments and 3.4K retweets</em>
</p><p class="p2">
  <em>78.5K likes</em>
</p><p class="p3"><strong>George✔️|@GeorgeNotFound </strong> <em>replied to your tweet:</em></p><p class="p3">YOU PLANNED IT </p><p class="p3">
  <em>456 comments and 267 retweets</em>
</p><p class="p3">
  <em>56.8K likes</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. the disc war prologue (episode 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Ponk indirectly causes the conflict that triggers every war to follow after.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>INTERVIEW WITH MCYTLIVE:</strong>
</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: Hello listeners and newcomers, welcome back to another episode at MCYTLive! Now, today is a special interview with a couple of special guests, so let's welcome: the up-and-coming action star and director, Dream—</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: Hi.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: —and the talented musician, actor and director, Wilbur Soot!</p><p><strong>WILBUR</strong>: Hello.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: So coming from our viewers flooding in, they congratulate you for the smashing success of the pilot episode of your new web-series, the Dream SMP! How do you feel about it?</p><p><strong>WILBUR</strong>: Oh, wow. It's a little overwhelming to see the amount of support flooding in, but we're really grateful.</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: Thank you guys! It's honestly amazing to see two big fanbases interact and hype up our newly-starting series. We'll make sure not to disappoint.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEW</strong>: Speaking of the web-series, the line-up you've brought in has made many people curious. Don't get us wrong, the entire cast is amazingly talented, but most of them are out of their comfort zones and starring in something completely new. Can you explain the reasoning behind your choice for casting?</p><p><strong>DREAM, chuckling</strong>: Oh, that's fine. Almost all of them admit to not being used with the roles they have, because as you said, it's out of their comfort zones. But they’re all willing to have a go at their character and I've never been more proud to see them approach their characters with an interesting angle.</p><p><strong>WILBUR</strong>: Most of them nailed the character at auditions, by the way. I remember seeing Tubbo's audition. He did an amazing job!</p><p><strong>DREAM, nodding</strong>: And you know Purpled? Purpled actually was invited to audition after that one episode on Bed Wars when he collectively beat our asses and he accepted.</p><p><strong>WILBUR</strong>: That was epic, actually. And he's a great builder — he contributes to helping us visualize our set designs, along with Punz. Punz <em>and </em>Fundy’s auditions were also very memorable and their personalities blended well with the cast's collective energy.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: Oh, that's great to hear! As two successful people associated with vastly different genres who work together, is there something that makes combining your creative efforts to produce this series easier?</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: Well, for me, I think it's the way that we can trust and rely on each others’ strengths. It's true that it's both of our first times being directors on a project. It's also true that I'm also a newbie on the scene, but Wilbur — Wilbur's <em>good</em> at storytelling and has been amazing at weaving narratives for a long time now. I'm mediocre at it, but there's this... <em>unique</em> way where Wilbur tells a story compellingly and he draws people in. He's actually cooking up this amazing, intricate plot for the web-series and I'm really excited to play the role he wants me to play.</p><p><strong>WILBUR, slightly chuckling</strong>: I'll take the compliment. And when it comes to the action — which we will make sure to provide plenty of to keep everybody entertained — Dream has a clear vision of how to make it work. It always turns out well-executed and I'm in actual awe of the creativity, because. Wow. You're amazing, man.</p><p><strong>DREAM, smiling: </strong>Thank you.</p><p>
  <em>Both slightly chuckle.</em>
</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER: </strong>Here's another question from the people: how do you guys come up with the character designs?</p><p><strong>DREAM: </strong>Funny that you ask that, actually.</p><p><strong>WILBUR: </strong>We asked around for people's opinions on how to give all characters a unique, stand-out design that also captured their personalities. Dream actually had his mask design thing drawn out by the production team on last month's creative writing spree.</p><p><strong>DREAM: </strong>For the most part, everybody liked their designs. Fundy though...</p><p><strong>WILBUR: </strong>Oh, Fundy. He did not like the furry option, but it's canon now, so.</p><p><strong>DREAM: </strong>Wilbur made him decide between wearing a fur suit, a motion capture suit or the fox ears and the tail. You guys can guess what he chose, but I think he regrets it.</p><p>
  <em>Wilbur snickers.</em>
</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER: </strong>Our time is up! What do you two have to say for the newcomers and fans alike listening to you people right now?</p><p><strong>WILBUR: </strong>Thank you for all the support!</p><p><strong>DREAM: </strong>We're grateful for every bit of it that we receive. Tune in to Saturday on the official website for the premiere and subscribe to our Youtube channel for the release of the new episode! It's free, and you can always change your mind. Hope you enjoy the next episode.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER: </strong>Thank you for being our guests for today. Don't worry, listeners, we'll be back in a few. See you!</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DRESSING ROOM</strong>
</p><p>"Fundy?" That distinctive English bastard's voice bemusedly asks him through the locked door and Fundy wants to strangle the British bitch, and leave him lying in a ditch somewhere.</p><p>He really would do it — if only God gave him the strength to do so. But by then, Fundy would be too OP for this world because of his ambitiousness, and likely could’ve beaten Death in a wrestling match by fifteen.</p><p>And since God knew of his incredible power and ambition — now he’s reduced to this pathetic, pathetic mortal where everyone in a five-mile radius could probably hear him going red and wishing for death at this point. Hell, he could practically hear his own embarrassment and desperation in his voice as he drags his hands across his face.</p><p><em>God, please,</em> Fundy begs silently. <em>Have mercy.</em> <em>I know I had a plan to reach heaven and conquer it somewhere around when I was like twelve, but I’m too weak as an adult to proceed with that amazing plan. Just anything but this. Please. Please strike me down and make the earth swallow me whole.</em></p><p>Wilbur knocks on the door again. Fundy wants to knock him out with his fists.</p><p>"Go away!" He shrilly says, trying to sound intimidating and broody but <em>no. </em>God apparently has heard his prayer, remembered his hubris and wanted to punish him on the spot and torture him more for something he didn't fucking do. This is it. God hates him, and this timeline is officially dead. He bets God out there is chilling somewhere, holding a glass of... whatever they drink in heaven and bringing around the entire angel council. <em>Point and laugh, guys </em>is what they are probably saying right now.</p><p>"Aww," Wilbur coos instead, ignoring Fundy's manifesting outrage. The audacity of this bastard. This is the man that many people prefer to - to Dream or to Tommy? Because he was slightly more relaxed than the other two? What a fucking wrong conclusion. Wilbur Soot is the embodiment of everything that went wrong in the universe, and Wilbur Soot is the reason why God abandoned this timeline — he left it for the sole purpose of making fun of <em>them</em>.</p><p>"Shut up, man!" He shouts. Of all the hiding spots he could've chosen after the dreaded wardrobe session, why did he go for the dressing room again? Hindsight sucks, because now he wants to slap <em>past him </em>in the face. The dressing room was a bad, bad choice — it basically had the sign of <em>abandon all hope, ye who enter here </em>hanging above the entrance, but Fundy was panicking too much to notice it. </p><p>There's a sigh on the other side of the door. Philza, if Fundy had to guess. The producer who had to handle many, many headaches in the studio including the directors themselves. He relates very much.</p><p>"Fundy," the man says wearingly. "I know you dislike the costume—"</p><p>"I fucking despise the costume!" Fundy yells back enthusiastically, glad that someone finally understands instead of making fun of him—</p><p>"—but we're on a tight schedule, and we really need to start filming episode two now," Philza says tiredly and Fundy’s hopes all crashed and burned down the drain, like Lucifer. God cast him out of the heavens, and all he has to show for his troubles is a fucking furry-styled costume he couldn’t even look at.</p><p>Philza — <em>Prime</em> bless him, because <em>fuck God — </em>at least has the decency to sympathize with him.</p><p>"Don't worry, Fundy. You're only background for today,” Dream adds, trying to reassure him.</p><p>Fundy fumes silently and drops his head in his hands, imagining a universe wherein everybody feared and respected him. A temporary escape from reality. <em>God</em>, he pleads one last time, trying to figure out a way of this situation. <em>Throw me some brains from the heavens.</em></p><p>"If you're not out in five," Wilbur speaks up, and there's this undertone of mischievousness. Fuck. Oh, fuck. <em>God</em>, he pleads harder. <em>Maybe throw stones as long as you hit the mark. </em>He's gonna die of embarrassment on the spot. "We'll break down the door."</p><p>"You won't!"</p><p>"You're right, he wouldn't," Philza interjects.</p><p>"Yeah, I'll just pick the lock," Dream suddenly speaks up, and oh <em>fucking god. No. "</em>One."</p><p>Fundy doesn't really do <em>flight </em>or <em>fight because why the hell would he have that kind of body response </em>and so his body immediately opts to just... freeze up right now, of all the possible times. "Stop the count!" He shrieks, his cries falling on deaf ears.</p><p>"Two." Ah, shit, he's panicking now. His eyes dart around to look for a hiding spot, and Fundy roughly dives into an open closet filled with tons of racks for unopened costumes and fabric.</p><p>"Three." <em>Where now?</em></p><p>The lock lightly jiggles, as if mocking him. Ah, <em>goddammit</em>, he's freezing up again <em>but now isn’t the time</em>—</p><p>"Four." He's dead, <em>he's dead, he's dead—</em></p><p>"Five." The door opens, he dives into a random pile of clothes and accepts his fate. The grown mens’ steps echo loudly on the floor as he lies down, and mentally prepares himself to be made fun of—</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER<br/>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot</strong>
</p><p>My little champion :)</p><p>
  <strong>[picture of fundy curled in a ball of shame in a pile of scratchy, unused fabric as his fox ears and fox tail peek out]</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>1.6K comments and 3.1K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>73.1K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Fundy|@FundyLive </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>Fuck you</p><p>
  <em>579 comments and 861 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>48.4K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>(And later, Fundy would find out that this was where the lore around Wilbur being his dad started.)</p><p>(He contemplates homicide on the way to the studio.)</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; SAPNAP'S HOUSE</strong>
</p><p>"Ponk," Alyssa starts, and falters. They both stand outside Sapnap's build on the outdoor set, further away from all the action — because half of the active actors on set are either chilling in their trailers or doing their scenes far, far away from the Community House.</p><p>"Alyssa," Ponk responds back, entering the base.</p><p>She follows, because what else is she supposed to do? It's her off-day. She's not even supposed to be in the studio, but she's here anyways to be her friends' moral support.</p><p>She's also curious on how set design did the massive entirety of the outdoor set up, and hey, they did a pretty amazing job. She used to work in the prop department, and while half of the stuff here is something she helped design, she hasn't personally visited any of the bases. The set design team's work was on point.</p><p>"I still think it's a bad idea to prank Sapnap's house," she follows up as they both explore the nicely decorated home.</p><p>Because prop and set design would go after Ponk's head, and it is only through many bribes and the fact that he has connections with the Higher-Ups™️ that Ponk isn’t quite dead yet.</p><p>Both departments were on thin ice with him because of... the whole lemon tree deal — the builds and the lemon tree getting burned down, and then both departments had to work together again to find a new location and design another build for the next lemon tree.</p><p>See? She's also concerned about her friend's wellbeing.</p><p>Her friend does not seem to care. "Lyss, it's alright. We do pranks on the outdoor set everytime, right? It's going to be nothing big," Ponk assures her, waving off her concern as he begins messing up Sapnap's house. Ah, god. This is gonna be a pain in the ass to fix when set design eventually calls her for help too.</p><p>"Whatever," Alyssa mutters. She's out of here. "I'm gonna laugh at you when I say <em>I told you so </em>in the next few hours. I'm out of here."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Ponk|@DropsByPonk</strong>
</p><p>Okay. Which one of you dipshits burned down the second lemon tree</p><p>
  <em>149 comments and 407 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>31.5K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Sapnap✔️|@sapnap </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>don't touch my house ever again</p><p>
  <em>567 comments and 609 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>38.2K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; PONK'S SECOND LEMON TREE</strong>
</p><p>Listen. Sapnap didn't mean to burn down the lemon tree and start a war off-screen. It was all Wilbur's fault.</p><p>Grieving and stealing were generally frowned upon on the set and there were rules in place to prevent that kind of thing from happening. Which was unfortunate, because everybody involved in the outdoor set didn't listen and kept trying to cause chaos.</p><p>Quietly, he needs to add. It all happens quietly. Because everybody feared the prop department's wrath, so all of the illegal on-set chaos happened quietly and efficiently.</p><p>Whatever. Sapnap doesn't really mind, because he's all in for the chaos. It's what makes being on set so fun, because starting drama off-screen and seeing it somehow make it all the way to the big screen and... etcetera, etcetera, people like seeing the drama happen.</p><p>Just so things were consistent on set, Dream put in some kind of Hamurabi's Code shit that basically said <em>if you grief or steal, the other person is basically guaranteed a free pass to grief or steal something equally important to you.</em></p><p>That’s cool, and that’s pretty fair, in Sapnap’s opinion.</p><p>But there’s this problem. Ponk — he knows Ponk, <em>he's a pretty nice guy</em> — decides to mess up his base and leaves it for Sapnap to find like, thirty minutes before the prop dep takes a check on most outdoor locations.</p><p>Yeah. He's a little reasonably pissed. He thinks he made a pretty decent job of putting his things back where it properly should be, so he's safe on the prop dep end.</p><p>Ponks, however, isn't safe from Sapnap.</p><p>So he alerted Wilbur on the incident, who's agreed on Sapnap's fair dish-out of burning just a few branches from Ponk's second lemon tree to get even and is now supervising him to make sure he doesn't go crazy.</p><p>Why does he get the reputation of the pyromaniac on set again? George was the one who committed arson and burned down a tree. Sapnap wishes that <em>he </em>committed arson instead, yeah, but he still didn't do it.</p><p>And here he is, beginning to tear off a couple of branches and preparing to savor this tiny moment of committing legal arson.</p><p>"Wait," Wilbur halts him and begins scribbling notes on his clipboard like a total maniac.</p><p>Sapnap hesitates. "Why?"</p><p>"Burn the entire tree down."</p><p><em>Wait, what? </em>Sapnap blue-screens at the prospect of committing legal <em>arson, </em>and vocalizes this for confirmation. "Wait, <em>really</em>?"</p><p>“Including the build,” Wilbur looks at him with that crazy glint in his eyes that said something along the lines of <em>I need help </em>and <em>I have a genius idea</em>, which isn't a good combination. Sapnap isn't familiar on what to do during these times of crisis, because Philza, Niki and Dream usually handle this. What is he meant to do again?</p><p><em>Not encourage his impulse story-plotting </em>is what Dream would say.</p><p>But Dream <em>isn't </em>here.</p><p>And who is he to turn down an opportunity freely given by the director of the entire show?</p><p>Wilbur waves over an assistant and asks for the camera crew, and by Sapnap's silent request, a torch. And oil. <em>Tons and tons of oil, maybe get the special effects crew to set up the pyrotechnics, </em>Wilbur rattles off as the assistant looked increasingly agitated and downright concerned - but hey. He’s the director.</p><p>And the director begins smiling down at the clipboard with tenderness, as if it held all the knowledge to getting the potential drama this small event would cause.</p><p>Sapnap inwardly snorts. Ponk would eventually get over it, and he can always replace it and take care of it.</p><p>It's not gonna do anything.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 3: THE DISC WAR PROLOGUE</strong>
</p><p>"Get him," Sapnap yells fiercely, moving forward to jab his sword at one of Dream's weak open points. "Get him, man! <em>Does he really think he can take us?</em>"</p><p>The man in a green hood and in full iron armor doesn't bother responding to that dig, opting to dodge and take a swing at Tommy before rolling away to run.</p><p>The teenager blocks it late with his shield and curses as he loses a heart and a half from the attack while Dream leaps forward a few blocks, and makes a sharp left to the border of the fence.</p><p>Tommy chases after him, slashing out with the enchanted sword as he corners the hooded man into a corner. "Go!" He shouts as Sapnap drops from his position on the higher ground, and stabs down at Dream.</p><p>"<em>We got you now!</em>" He crows as the blade goes down on the straps of Dream’s mask and the tip slices into the skin of his back.</p><p>Dream’s mask falls off as he takes the hit, and dies.</p><p>The chat log displays the death message like a bold plaque and both of them whoop in victory as they steal his items. The older one holds the ceramic mask a little too fondly for  Tommy’s liking, but Sapnap pockets it into his inventory and Tommy finds that he doesn’t really mind sentimentality even when it’s toward a fucking <em>wrongin</em>. </p><p>"He has escaped — for now," Sapnap says with a small satisfactory grin after they spot the respawn message. "We need to fall back, Tommy."</p><p>The teenager waves the older's suggestion off, and picks up the enchanted crossbow that the server owner dropped, grinning as he spots Dream, who respawned, on the wooden path. “No — <em>wait</em>.”</p><p>Without armor or anything, and yelling at him. He can’t hear anything other than the annoying voice, though.</p><p>"I’ve got an idea," Tommy starts to say to Sapnap, who leans in to listen with a devilish smile.</p><p>From afar, Dream curses and starts sprinting off.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>George✔️ retweeted and liked your tweet.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sapnap✔️|@sapnap</strong>
</p><p>Not Dream getting bullied by a child on his own server</p><p>
  <em> <strong>[a blurry picture of Dream climbing up a tree as Tommy maniacally waves the crossbow at him; somewhere in the background, Alyssa lies down on the the ground, having been slain by Tommy's enchanted sword moments prior and looking like she's done with life]</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>2.1k comments, 2.4k retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>127.2k likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Dream✔️|@Dream </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>THIS WASN'T PART OF THE SCRIPT</p><p>
  <em>1.7K comments and 2.3K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>91.4k likes</em>
</p><p><b>George✔️|@GeorgeNotFound </b> <em>replied to Dream</em></p><p>canon</p><p>
  <em>1k comments and 1.2k retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>74k likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Dream✔️|@Dream </strong> <em>replied to George</em></p><p>SHUT UP</p><p>
  <em>1.1k comments and 1.3k retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>66.9k likes</em>
</p><p><strong>ItsAlyssa|@AlyssaWasFound </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>I wasn't even supposed to be on set :/</p><p>
  <em>341 comments and 192 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>5.9k likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>ON OUTDOOR SET; PLAINS</strong>
</p><p>"Cut!" Wilbur calls out.</p><p>Tommy wasn’t paying not attention to his surroundings — and that was where the problem started. Because he wasn’t aware of his environment and the adrenaline might’ve kicked a bit of sense out of him, and Wilbur doesn’t blame him when he runs head-first into a tree. Hard.</p><p>Wilbur <em>does </em>blame him for the heart attack, because he surprisingly gets there first. "Are you alright?" He shouts at the child laying down on the ground, dazed. He's concerned. <em>Maybe</em> slightly panicking, because he’s <em>not </em>supposed to be yelling at a child.</p><p>Dream would say that slightly panicked is an understatement, but fortunately he chooses to ignore this mental remark. But it's on that thought when Dream finally emerges from the fake trees, out of breath  and gapes at the duo in front of him.</p><p>Wilbur glares, and the blond asks for the on-site medical team.</p><p>Tommy gets up, a little disoriented, but otherwise... obviously <em>not</em> alright, because what sixteen year-old runs headfirst into a thick tree trunk and says they're alright?</p><p>This infuriating sixteen child in front of him, apparently. </p><p>Tommy tries to wave off his concern. "Don't worry, Wil. It doesn't hurt. I'm a big man," he assures the director im his own little way, but if you didn’t know the child — that would’ve sounded downright concerning. Wilbur doesn't know how it's supposed to assure him, but hey, that's TommyInnit for you.</p><p>Dream frowns beside him, also concerned — because they're both grown adult men who would not be fooled by a child. He ignores Tommy's request and waves the med team over anyways. "You are obviously not alright," he decides as Tommy quietly huffs and hunches over as three people swarm him.</p><p>"What were you thinking?" Wilbur softly asked Tommy, crouching beside him as Dream helps him sit up on a foldable chair. Tommy scrunches up his nose at him and jabs a thumb at the hooded man beside him.</p><p>Wilbur raises an eyebrow.</p><p>Tommy aggressively waves a hand at Dream. In full netherite armor, who earlier was waving an axe and yelling at him. Oh, right. He sees it now.</p><p>"Hey, it's all fair," Dream defends himself, making small talk to distract Tommy as the med team inspect his head, and raises his hands as if to say <em>what are you gonna do? </em>"Besides, you had too much fun chasing me earlier with the crossbow. This is just payback."</p><p>"Me chasing you was funny," Tommy counters, wincing as one of the medics gently feel along his scalp for a bump. "Me getting chased? Not so much."</p><p>He nods in understanding as the med team gives him the go, and advises the child actor to take it easy. He can breathe easier now. Crisis averted. He shakes his head exasperatedly at Tommy. Still.</p><p>Oh, yeah. Prop dep. Oh, god. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Crisis <em>not </em>averted.</p><p>"Why did you throw the <em>fucking disc at Dream's head</em>, Tommy?" He says exasperatedly, curling up into a ball. Fuck it, he's allowed to be all dramatic now that the crisis has passed. "The prop department is going to have my head." He mourns as Dream pats his shoulder in comfort.</p><p>Dream turns to Tommy. "Yeah, Tommy," he says, his face unreadable because of the mask. It's a cool character design, Wilbur decides, but it's pretty annoying in this situation. "Why <em>did</em> you throw the disc at my head like we were playing Frisbee or whatever?"</p><p>Tommy splutters. "You were gonna kill me anyway, so. Don't make fun of my fight or flight response, Dream," he manages in a small voice as the medics pass him a cold compress. "That's fucking rude."</p><p>Wilbur hears this teasing tone in Dream's voice. "You almost got Wilbur killed by the prop department with that move, Tommy." He points at the other director, who is now having a slight mental breakdown. "Look at him. You almost broke him."</p><p>Y'know. Because as much as Wilbur fears deadlines, the anger of the prop department with their record of five replacement masks for Dream and counting, swords, axes and other weapon props that keep having to be replaced after breaking despite all the reinforcement... yeah, he has definite reason to be fucking terrified if they didn't take care of the props.</p><p>Especially Cat and Mellohi. Those were lovingly hand-crafted by the prop department, and if it got damaged by anything — <em>the discs were easily damaged and scratched, </em>goddammit<em>, Dream doesn't even have the balls to accompany him for moral support every single time he had to report back to the prop department</em> — their heads would be up on a pike.</p><p>Tommy doesn't look even a little concerned — which is a little fucking rude, though. He just presses the cold compress to his head and grudgingly says: "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Can you please go easy on me, then?"</p><p>Dream cackles in response. "No," he says, because he's a demon who likes terrorizing people in his free time. Wilbur respects him for the dedication and the consistency. "Don't throw them at me. I kill you, <em>and then </em>I get to take the discs, remember?"</p><p>Tommy grumbles, adjusting the cold compress a little more to the right, and <em>right</em>. Wilbur frowns at his watch as more minutes of precious recording time go to waste, and he decides to get the show on the road again.</p><p>The director runs a hand through his hair, and stands up. "Let's take fifteen minutes, and get another take," he decides, calling out the crew. "Prepare the set again, people!"</p><p>This is going to be a long day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Notes: Basically schedule goes like this: They film for a week before releasing the episode. By the time the pilot episode got released, they were already working/almost finished with episode 2, and etc. The interview happens after the pilot episode debut, btw.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. the war of the discs (episode 3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Tommy and Tubbo get involved in a manhunt with Tommy’s disc. The problem is Dream is their hunter.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>double update because i’m so excited to write this au! plus people also seem to like this alot aaah you guys are gonna get the l’manberg arc next episode, so next chapter might take a while but i swear aksjsisj i’ll make it fast</p><p>anyways if i got any minecraft terminology wrong, please correct me!</p><p>happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 3: THE DISC WAR</strong>
</p><p>The underground has always been unbothered.</p><p>It held precious metals and tons of treasures left behind with cobwebs and a thick coat of dust, sure. That’s what people mostly come for. It’s the resources like iron and cheap coal — and if you were lucky, you’d find diamonds — that gave it the appeal. It’s what made people would bother it, sometimes — braving their fear of the unknown.</p><p>Nobody sticks around for very long, though. Very rarely did any explorers bother spend their time underground. Why would they when they could be outside in the sun, exploring the Overworld and the things it had to offer?</p><p>And here's a thing that the people who do stay underground don't pass on: the earth protects what it has, and any kind of life outside its' domain doesn't matter to it. It hides mobs in the shadows, and lets them roam all underground for the price of keeping itself guarded against the people who’d steal.</p><p>But they <em>do</em> warn people about traveling in the night, because the night and the shadows were where mobs become more hostile, more free and roamed the Overworld in an purposeless trance.</p><p>Dream ignores the warnings, though. He's never been afraid of the mobs, and he'll never be. They're useful sometimes when he needs gunpowder. Or bonemeal. Or when he collects the armor that mobs would randomly drop. </p><p>But right now? Right now — he's got nothing to be afraid of.</p><p>His shovel hits something hard in the dirt, and Dream grins as he tosses the shovel aside and begins to carefully dig out a chest in the black of the night.</p><p>Tommy, though? He's got something to be afraid of now. </p><p>"Got you," Dream whispers into the tense air, the smile behind his mask promising a continuation of the fight he had lost. </p><p>The war isn’t finished yet.</p><p>(And it wouldn’t be — for a long, long time.)</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; BEFORE FILMING</strong>
</p><p>It's six in the morning. He's sixteen, working on a highly-budgeted role on an up-and-coming show, and he's already complaining about his pay.</p><p>Because TommyInnit is <em>not</em> getting paid enough for this shit at this early in the morning. Tommy gapes at the ground outside his base on the outdoor set. "<em>What the fuck.</em>"</p><p>Tubbo kicks one of the mounds of dirt uprooted by his base, and winces.</p><p>Because.</p><p>Some motherfucker on set must've thought it was funny to just dig up like, <em>three feet </em>of dirt all around his fucking base some three fucking hours in the dead of the night yesterday when the studio was basically dead. Yeah, Tommy's also an infamous prankster on set and maybe he respects the dedication and effort of this fucker to get away with it, but the amount of anger far outweighs his feelings of awe right now.</p><p>"This isn't as bad as it looks," Tubbo, ever the optimist, volunteers as he walks around the entrance of Tommy's beloved base.</p><p>Tommy just gives him the look. Tubbo knows the look. Tubbo knows what it means. It's the <em>are you bull-shitting me right now?</em> one.</p><p>Tubbo just steps a bit away, the smile on his face a little wary. His best friend turns around with a flimsy excuse of <em>Hey, the prop bees on my base need to be... organized, hahaha yeah... I got to go, Tommy, see you later, bye!</em> while leaving Tommy alone in this horrible, horrible crisis.</p><p>"What the fuck," he utters again, because while most on-set things are on a level of crazy, this one is on a new level. Maybe he can say it enough times until it actually turns out to be a fever dream. He rubs his eyes from time and time again to order to see if he’s on some serious hallucination, but the pit stays the same every single time.</p><p>Jesus Christ, did the fucker have any self-preservation instincts? Because the prop AND set department is gonna hunt the fucker down now. They're dead.</p><p><em>Maybe they're already dead,</em> so Tommy tries to comfort himself with that knowledge.</p><p>Well. If they weren’t dead yet — then the prop and set dep would find Tommy first, then he's dead and that's just not fucking pog.</p><p>"Morning, Tommy," Wilbur greets in his usual cheerful yellow sweater and a beanie, which Tommy turns away from because he's reasonably in a bad mood and also panicking at the same time. He’s practically allergic to any type of optimism right now. “Right on time as always. Did you finish wardrobe?"</p><p>The audacity.</p><p>Tommy glowers at him, and non-verbally points at his base. <em>Are. You. For. Real.</em> He punctuates each silent word with an excessive and aggressive gesture.</p><p>Wilbur takes a sip from his cup of tea, and blinks.</p><p>"Oh." He says after a while, as the on-set crew slowly fills in and heightens Tommy's anxiety to levels he didn’t know existed. Because one of them is going to be someone from the set or prop dep and<em> then it's over</em>. God.</p><p><em>Why is Wilbur not panicking? He faced the same crisis last week! Why the fuck doesn't he have any sympathy,</em> Tommy mentally shouts as Wilbur's sleep-deprived brain stares at the ruined grounds around Tommy's base and struggles to see what's wrong.</p><p>"Oh," Wilbur repeats. To his horror, Wilbur smiles reassuringly, and tries to pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Tommy. We were going to put it all back since we had a shoot sometime around two AM today, but it was too late, so I told them all to leave it and we can do it back again in the morning," he yawns half-way through it.</p><p>So that explains it. Tommy isn't appeased, though. He’s gonna fucking murder the cunt for the heart attack. "So you used my base for last night’s impromptu shoot?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Tommy deeply inhales, channeling a very specific pacifist’s spirit into not wringing Wilbur’s neck. “Alright. Who fucking did it, then?” he demands as an assistant hurries over to hand Wilbur and Tommy a cup of hot tea each before running off.</p><p>He's a little touched that Wilbur got him something after making him come in the studio so early, but he remembers that, yeah, this motherfucker authorized the digging up of the dirt in front of his fucking base.</p><p>"Who do you think did it?" Wilbur says with that small, amused smile on his face. <em>There's nothing fucking amusing about this</em>, Tommy fumes because Wilbur is an unnecessary asshole at this early in the morning. </p><p>“Now is not the time to play fucking Sherlock, Wil.”</p><p>”Okay. But who do you think did it?”</p><p>Tommy frowns at the way he dodged the question, but he does think it through. Was it Ponk? He's the first one that comes to mind. That motherfucker argued with him about property and fought against him because well, <em>Sapnap asked him to </em>and to be fair, <em>Wilbur let it happen</em>. But it all still came down to that lemon tree that he really liked—</p><p>"It's Dream," Wilbur says with that specific shit-eating tone after seeing Tommy try to connect the dots, as if it say <em>you didn't connect shit.</em></p><p><em>Dream?</em> Tommy stands there, processing the information. <em>Why would Dream dig up the ground around his base?</em></p><p>Wilbur looks at his wristwatch and throws the first cup away in the bin, ready to consume the other cup as the on-set crew files in, prepping the scene for filming. "By the way, have you checked your chest since you arrived, Tommy?” the director mildly suggests as he walks away from the trigger-happy teenager gripping a perfectly good cup of tea tight in his hands as <em>god-fucking-dammit. Fucking—</em></p><p>"That motherfucker," Tommy mutters murderously under his breath as he slams down the cup of tea on the nearest flat surface in his base and begins to stomp his way to someone's trailer.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM TEAM TRAILER; BEFORE MAKE-UP AND WARDROBE</strong>
</p><p>Sapnap just started munching on Dream's famed fluffy pancakes when both of them heard the ominous sound of stomping.</p><p>The blond's fork was half-way to his mouth when he got rudely interrupted by the aggressive knocking on their trailer door. He sighs, putting the pancake piece in his mouth as he stands up, wobbles to the door and opens it.</p><p>Dream goes face-to-face with the gremlin, who is visibly fuming. "Morning, Tommy," he greets.</p><p>Tommy jabs a finger into Dream's chest. Ohh, spicy drama. Sapnap bites another piece off his pancakes, and watches. He's been hanging around Wilbur too much. "You— <em>you motherfucker</em>. Where are my discs?”</p><p>Dream blinks. The blond looks just as confused as Sapnap is, but at least he's not the one facing an angry child. "What's going on?"</p><p>"<em>What's going on?</em>" Tommy thunders, his face twisted in anger. "You <em>fucking </em>uprooted three feet of dirt all around the front of my fucking base for my fucking discs, you <em>bitch.”</em></p><p>Dream's mouth turns into a perfect O, and he closes the door in Tommy's face.</p><p>"<em>COME BACK HERE,</em> <em>YOU MOTHERFUCKER</em>," The gremlin shouts angrily, slamming the door open as Dream takes one pancake off his plate, maneuvers around the child and sprints off to God knows where. Tommy immediately follows, leaving Sapnap alone in the trailer.</p><p>Eh, he shrugs. That's Dream's problem now.</p><p>"More pancakes for me," he quietly smiles as he picks off the remaining pancakes off Dream's plate.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>PM</strong>
</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI: </strong>WILBUE</p><p><strong>WILBY: </strong>you're up early</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> what's up</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> TEL TOMMY TOS TOP CHASIGN ME</p><p><strong>WILBY</strong>: pray tell</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> why the fuck is he chasing you</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> HE FOUDN OUT ABT TH E 2 AM THING</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> HELP I HAVE A FERAL GREMLIN ON ME</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> WILBUR</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> oh</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> get both of your asses on the scene then</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> he has enough energy to chase you now, and you're awake enough to run</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> WTF NO</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> IT'S THE ADNREMALIN TALKING IM GONNA CRAS HSOON</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> I WAS EATING BREAKFAST</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> eat it on set then</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> I'M NOT IN MAKE-UP AND I DON'T HV WARDROBE YET</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> HE'S NOT SUPPSOED TO BE CHASIGN ME</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> i can't believe</p><p><strong>WILBY:</strong> fine i'll get philza he'll know what to do</p><p><strong>GREEN BOI:</strong> HURRY</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Punz|@Punztw</strong>
</p><p>I woke up ready for war and came to work for this</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[picture of Dream in a white shirt and camo pants, bleary-eyed and perched on top of the Community House like a cat while Tommy angrily barks at him from bellow]</em> </strong>
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  <em>857 comments and 1.2K retweets</em>
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  <em>59.9K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Dream✔️|@Dream </strong> <em>replied to your comment</em></p><p>this attack on me isn't cool punz</p><p>
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</p><p><strong>George✔️|@GeorgeNotFound </strong> <em>replied to Dream's comment</em></p><p>i can't believe you let yourself be chased around by a child</p><p>
  <em>1.2K comments and 1.5K retweets</em>
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  <em>68.2K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Sapnap✔️|@sapnap </strong> <em>replied to Dream's comment</em></p><p>yeah you're taller than him why didn't you just whoop his ass</p><p>
  <em>871 comments and 1.1K retweets</em>
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</p><p><strong>Dream✔️|@Dream </strong> <em>replied to this thread</em></p><p>You're both on thin fucking ice</p><p>
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  <em>54.3K likes</em>
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  <strong>ON THE WAREHOUSE SET; SOCIALIZING CLUB</strong>
</p><p>"Alright, hold on for a moment, guys," Wilbur rubs his hands together. He looks tired, Fundy notes. Normally, he wouldn't give a shit ever since the fox tail and ears incident, but he's willing to let this one slide since he just dealt with a trigger-happy Dream and a terrified duo of Tommy and Tubbo getting chased down by a world-renowned speed-runner for... five hours.</p><p>Yeah, he's grudgingly willing to put on the fox ears and tail without much of a fuzz and that’s because Fundy's a decent human being, alright?</p><p><em>Geez</em>, Fundy impatiently taps his fingers on the table in front of him as all members of the Socializing Club await further instructions after that slight technical problem with the cameras. The tech crew is fixing it, fast and efficient as they always have — and while Fundy would’ve loved to be up there and helping them out, the tech crew apparently has had an unspoken agreement about not letting Fundy’s tail or ears get stuck in electrical wiring, so he’s genuinely not allowed to be up there.</p><p>There's just something a little uncomfortable with being the only adult in a room of kids who you were supposed to kill.</p><p>Fundy mentioned homicide once in Wilbur's presence and now apparently, he's a trigger-happy murderer who thought it was funny to kill people with a shovel, and  whose first instinct to seeing a child standing in his own home is to trap and drown him with water.</p><p>So, he might've went a little too overboard with his acting when Purpled called him a furry but. He regrets it, and he apologized after the scene to both kids because unlike Dream, he doesn't want to traumatize children by chasing after them like Jason Voorhees on Friday the 13th.</p><p>Purpled and Tubbo don't seem to mind, though. They're friendly with him despite his outrage manifesting earlier, Tubbo's calmer now and now they're both distracted by playing games on their phones. Fundy sighs. He wishes he didn't leave his phone in his trailer.</p><p>It's noon now, he notes. <em>Hmm</em>. He's kinda hungry, now that he thinks about it. How long can Fundy get away with sneaking into his trailer under the guise of being thirsty or needing something — well, to be fair, it's <em>noon</em> and it's <em>hot</em>; <em>he's  actually thirsty</em> — and getting to scroll through social media until Wilbur notices that he's missing?</p><p><em>A long time</em>, he bets. Wilbur's going to distracted by the technical problems plus the fact that nobody has noticed that they're missing the sign props in the room. Prop dep is going to be mad at somebody for not noticing.</p><p>It’s a solid plan, and he's thoroughly convinced that he could get away with missing on scene. So Fundy stands up, and prepares his game face.</p><p>And gets foiled by the goddamn tech crew being efficient and annoyingly good at their jobs. </p><p>"Yes! Let's get the show back on the road!" Wilbur cheers as someone from the tech crew flashes him a thumbs-up and settles back down on his director's chair. Tubbo and Purpled share a look as they both discreetly set aside their phones, the angle of the table hiding them from view. <em>That's pretty fucking clever</em>, Fundy notes as they diligently sit and readjust the straps of their gear, looking all innocent and shit as they sit by themselves.</p><p>"Fundy?" His head snaps to attention, and <em>oh, yeah, </em>he's still standing. Plan foiled. <em>Yeah</em>. "Are you alright?"</p><p>"Yeah," he says, fumbling for an excuse. "I just remembered," he points a thumb over his shoulder. "The club is missing the sign props."</p><p>Wilbur sighs, and calls for someone to come get them. "Thanks for the reminder, Fundy. Now, places everyone! And someone tell Tommy to get ready for the next scene!" He calls out as Fundy slumps on his chair, defeated.</p><p>He hopes it's nothing more than a few more takes. He <em>really</em> wants to eat.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
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  <strong>Purpled|@burpled</strong>
</p><p>Someone tell the furry that socializing doesn't involve murder</p><p>
  <em>576 comments and 701 retweets</em>
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  <em>33K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Fundy|@FundyLive </strong> <em>replied to burpled</em></p><p>I'M NOT AFURRY</p><p>
  <em>1.2K comments and 865 retweets</em>
</p><p><em>51.</em> <em>8K likes</em></p><p><strong>Tubbo|@TubboLive </strong> <em>replied to FundyLive</em></p><p>Youre not denying the killing part, Fundy</p><p>
  <em>962 comments and 315 retweets</em>
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  <strong>ON SET; UNDERGROUND; FILMING</strong>
</p><p>There's an undertone of rising tension as Tubbo fidgets, hearing Tommy's pickaxe from far away in one of the tunnels repeatedly hitting the obsidian ores he found to mine them.</p><p>"Do it faster, Tommy," he urges as sweat drips down his forehead.</p><p>"I'm trying!" Tommy's whine echoes back.</p><p>He resists the urge to make a face at the disgusting feeling of make-up and sweat on his face though. He's in front of a camera, and he's doing his best ever since he impressed the directors at his audition. He's not gonna bloody well stop doing his best now.</p><p>The problem is that the eeriness of the underground set <em>kind of </em>gets to him. He's not a scaredy-cat. He's just generally wary of dark, enclosed spaces that make him feel alone.</p><p>The ground beneath his shoes is gravelly, and he fidgets a little more. Kind of slippery. He hopes he doesn’t slip when the time comes, because Dream is supposed to chase them and that's a fact that lingers over his head. Anybody who’s anybody has seen Manhunts and <em>oh, god. </em>Dream being a hunter is a downright nightmare.</p><p>He's memorized the tunnel map given to them, just so he knows where to run and how to escape safely. Dream himself directed how it'll happen and how it'll turn out, with Tubbo and Tommy both emerging alive out of the tunnel.</p><p>He knows it's all an act, and that Dream's a cool guy. He wouldn't voluntarily actually murder them. <em>Right?</em></p><p>Dream drops down in front of him.</p><p>Tubbo stops reassuring himself, and he gapes. He good-to-honestly freezes up on the spot, because he doesn't know what to do. He’s sure somewhere in his brain that Dream wasn’t supposed to do <em>that</em>. He wasn’t supposed to drop down from the freaking <em>ceiling</em>.</p><p>Well, he’s here now and what is Tubbo meant to do again? Is he supposed to fight Dream off, or is he supposed to run?</p><p>Dream takes an unsure step towards him.</p><p>He looks at the direction of the tunnel that Tommy went to. Oh, right, right. <em>Line</em>.</p><p>"Tommy!" He yells, backing away. He doesn’t have to fake being scared as shit. "He's here!"</p><p>He hears a small <em>fuck</em> echo in the tunnels before Dream wields his axe. It looks realistic, Tubbo notes. A little too realistic for him, because Dream looks terrifying. The child-like smile drawn on the mask is absolutely terrifying and he <em>hates</em> it so much. The prop and costume department did a good job on terrifying character designs.</p><p>Tubbo pats his pockets, only coming up with a stone he picked up to use as Tommy’s cue later. <em>Damn it</em>. Yeah, he was definitely <em>not</em> supposed to fight Dream, and that’s not part of the script. <em>What is he thinking?</em></p><p>He backs away slowly as Dream menacingly steps forward and throws the stone hard behind the hooded man. <em>Thank God,</em> and Tubbo barely resists the urge to yell <em>hallelujah </em>as the ADHD wins out and Dream startlingly looks at the stone smoothly sailing over his shoulder.</p><p>Tubbo books it the hell out of there.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>AFTER FILMING; SAME LOCATION</strong>
</p><p>"Was I not meant to do that?" Tubbo hesitantly cracks as all three actors in the scene with Wilbur recheck the footage. Yeah, <em>no shit,</em> he really wasn't supposed to do that.</p><p>He inwardly winces at his performance. He forgot his lines, he was a couple seconds late for his clue and <em>he panicked</em>. His shoulders bunch up. <em>Gah</em>.</p><p>Dream pats his shoulder in comfort, his mask finally off his face. He looks concerned. "Hey, it's alright," he assures, his green eyes looking kind. Tubbo doesn't really know what to say to this renowned actor comforting him. "You did great."</p><p>"Really?"</p><p>"Really," Wilbur affirms, jotting down something on his clipboard. It's not Tubbo's business to know what, but he hopes it's not something bad. "That was a real and genuinely tense performance, Tubbo. You did amazing!" He smiles comfortingly at the brunette.</p><p>"Yeah, you did amazing," Tommy nods, a little note of pride in his voice. They both grin at each other, a little tired from the full day of acting on scenes, before Tommy walks off to their shared trailer for make-up.</p><p>Wilbur turns to Dream. "What were you doing there anyways?"</p><p>Dream scratches his head. "I tripped and fell," he admits. "I wasn't supposed to fall in the exact same spot they were in, and I was too early. Don't worry, Tubbo; I messed up on that one," he admits.</p><p>"To be fair, you were terrifying," Tubbo blurts out, and shuts his mouth. Well. Why did he say that?</p><p>The director wheezes. "I thought the cameras were off by the time I fell down, and Tubbo was a little frozen in spot, so I approached him and saw the red light blinking. So."</p><p>Tubbo sighs in relief, almost slumping against the wall he leaned against. "You were too near," he near exclaims. The adrenaline hasn't worn off yet. "I genuinely thought you were going to kill me!"</p><p>"I'm sorry," Dream apologizes as sincere as he can while holding back a laugh.</p><p>Tubbo recognizes the attempt to make him comfortable, and he lets a small smile appear as the director slumps over an exasperated Wilbur, wheezing.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>ON-SET; FILIMING</strong>
</p><p>Punz generally has a good time on set, y'know? He has a great time hanging out in the outdoor set and by the builds of set design. It's all amazing, and unlike the other main characters, he can do whatever the fuck he wants on camera as a background character.</p><p>In his opinion, there was a shortage of recognizable background characters in the cast who could do whatever they wanted without needing supervision, and that's why he doesn't mind coming in everyday just so he can watch while Dream and Tommy get involved in another war. It's all good entertainment, and he can interact a lot more with the departments when they need the help.</p><p>Which is usually a massive win for him.</p><p>Except for today, because he's now acting as Punz the plot-convenient man-you-always-need-for-a-quest. The first half of his scene felt like a fever dream when he solemnly told Tommy, whom he had just argued with, to go get him an apple to replace the ones that got stolen from him.</p><p>This scene and him being here wasn't actually part of the script, you see. Because George was supposed to be the plot-convenient material dispenser, but what the hell. George didn't even show up today, and Punz couldn't even remember if he showed up yesterday.</p><p>So now Punz is stuck on the outdoor set, awkwardly awaiting Tommy's arrival just so he could throw the blaze rods at him. He impatiently taps his foot and tries to think of other things to distract him from his role of being a material dispenser.</p><p>He doesn't even notice it when suddenly someone yells: "I GOT IT!" and something collides with his temple.</p><p>Luckily, he's a pretty solid man, so that headshot bounced off his head. It was not the direct reason why he fell down. He only stumbled and fucking tripped over his feet, okay?</p><p>So what if he muttered <em>ow? </em>That was a well-placed headshot that Punz could respect. The only thing he didn’t respect was however threw a brick at his goddamn head.</p><p>"Oh fuck," he hears Tommy exclaim. "Oh shit! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to throw it at your head!"</p><p>"'m fine," Punz mutters, gingerly touching the side of his forehead. <em>Ouch</em>. "What the hell did you throw at my head?"</p><p>Punz never thought he’d ever see the day Tommy looked sheepish towards hi mfor causing bodily harm. "It was the apple," he winced as he held out a hand.</p><p>Punz takes it, and gave the approaching med team a thumbs up as he stood up. "'m fine," he assures the worried teenager as he sits up and gains his bearings. Yeah, <em>he’s fine</em>. He’ll just sit down and take a nap later. "Just... be normal and swap the apple with me instead of using me as target practice, yeah?"</p><p>Tommy slightly backs away, and gestures an <em>okay</em> at the cameramen, left unsupervised by a napping Wilbur, before running off-scene again.</p><p>Punz thinks that the man deserves the rest after the shitshow that is this week, and since the crew has been functioning alright so far ever since he slept twenty minutes ago, he thinks they’re going to be all right. </p><p>Maybe.</p><p>He flashes another thumbs-up before he sees the red light blinking, and returns to being a plot-convenient material dispenser.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Dream✔️|@Dream</strong>
</p><p>i just saw Punz get headshot'd by an apple thrown by Tommy</p><p>
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</p><p><strong>Punz|@Punztw </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>Please shut up</p><p>
  <em>652 comments and 585 retweets</em>
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  <em>45.4K likes</em>
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  <strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit</strong>
</p><p>I am. such a Big Man</p><p>
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  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 3: THE DISC WAR (AFTER-SCENE)</strong>
</p><p>“Safe and sound,” Tommy mumbles as he re-checks his newly-made ender chest.</p><p>The light from the lit torch in Tommy’s base softly illuminates his vision as Cat and Mellohi sit safely in the depth of his ender chest. He sighs in relief, and gingerly closes the chest before slumping on it, closing his eyes.</p><p>It’s a small break from the sudden influx of action on the server, and Tommy feels. A little more relaxed.</p><p>Steps to the front of his base make him tense up, and his hand reaches out for the crossbow—</p><p>”This new server you’ve stumbled seems pretty homey, Tommy,” A deep voice states amusedly from behind him.</p><p>”<em>Mhm</em>,” Another voice agrees. “You’ve found a nice, good world to be in, TommyInnit.”</p><p>Tommy peeks his head from where he hid behind the chest. His eyes light up as he stands, and he smiles, relaxed.</p><p>”Hey Wilbur, and — hey Schlatt.”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>TWITTER:</b>
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  <b>Schlatt✔️|@jschlatt</b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>[picture of the cuck shed with the prominent dream smp outdoor set in the background]</em> </b>
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</p><p><b>Dream✔️|@Dream </b> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>what the</p><p>
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  <em>91.2K likes</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>anyways dream doesn’t know who the hell schlatt is. he was on his off-day when wilbur decided to bring in schlatt for a surprise cameo, and that’s why that’s his reaction</p><p>and george actually comes in, just late at night. he worked initially on the tech support crew, and comes in late at night to supervise the editing. dream hangs out with him because he’s also there during editing, and he’s also supervising the sound design team. due to this, he goes home late and misses his sessions. dream just falls asleep in the studio, and sapnap gets there like... really early to take over as supervisor for the sound design team while dream takes a nap</p><p>kudos and comments make my day :)! consider leaving one, you can always take it back or delete it later. tyvm for the support &lt;3</p><p>edit: this all happens in a span of a week. if this all happened in one day, then all other days would’ve been boring as hell 🤷♀️</p><p>edit, edit: why the fuck is the female shrug emoji replaced by that bullshit</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. the start of a new era (episode 4)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The land of the Greater Dream SMP welcomes a new member, and the whole world holds its’ breath as a new era arises.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>11 PM; IN THE STUDIO </strong>
</p><p>In all three months that Dream has worked with Wilbur, there is one day that he regrets coming to pass and it is today.</p><p>So when Dream pores over the script and looks up at the huge whiteboard in front of them with barely readable scribbles, he’s not that surprised to find that almost nobody is listening, but he speaks his truth anyways. "Doesn't this seem a little too heavy on propaganda, guys?"</p><p>"Not to me!" Wilber, creator of the first piece of <em>absolute bullshit </em>propaganda on his server, exclaims gleefully from beside him. Dream can tell that he's had a little too much to drink and gently pries the cool glass from Wilbur's loose grip.</p><p>Because today is that day of the month again. That time where all writers were required to be on set for the monthly get-together impulsive writing session, and someone would haul in a suspicious huge crate of alcohol to get drunk.</p><p>It’s kind of impressive. Dream expects nobody to be coherent enough to actually make through the night, but he has heard two perfectly-executed monologues and a soliloquy in the span of the last two hours. Everybody’s not as strict and professional, throws a lot of ideas around and it’s a good way to write the script.</p><p>Well, Wilbur said that it was a good way to cope with writing the first draft. First drafts are barely coherent and are often shitty, but at least he has something to work with for the next time everybody is sober.</p><p>Eh. Whatever Wilbur said. At least two people who remained sober through the first serious hours of the writing session had the sense to record it.</p><p>Dream flips through Wilbur’s personal clipboard. He's the only one left sober in this gathering, and apparently, the role of a responsible adult now falls to him.</p><p>So <em>maybe</em> he was the one who got flat-out drunk last month since he and Wilbur agreed to have turns in getting drunk every time the writing sessions happened, but it was marginally better than what was happening right now, because all he did was somehow smuggle George in and also got him black-out drunk in the middle of him supervising the editing.</p><p><em> It was a disaster</em>, Wilbur had told him because Dream remembers none of it. But since Wilbur thrives off drama, he’s a pretty unreliable narrator. And none of the writers wanted to tell him what happened, so that’s that.</p><p>"I'm <em>not</em> a dictator," Dream almost yells in protest when he homes on to a particular sheet of paper on the clipboard. It's the last page, and there's a detailed list of compiled fictional accounts from people who claim <em>he's</em> terrorizing the citizens of the server. "What the hell? This doesn’t make sense! It's <em>my</em> server — everybody I've invited just ignored my rules! What was I supposed to do?"</p><p>"Not make them conform to that weird Hammurabi's code bullshit you put in place?" Somebody suggests from the depths of the shadows where half a dozen people are mingling in. Dream refuses to get dragged in there, but said half a dozen drunk writers are making noises of agreement, and all need to be separated. He bets Wilbur's there. When the fuck did Wilbur leave his side anyways?</p><p>"Yeah, they're fucking right, man," Wilbur agrees as Dream drags him out of the massive cuddle party happening in the depths of the shadows and half-scowls, because he's the only one sober in the room and now half of the people are calling him a dictator. For trying to justify how he preferably keeps his server in order. Right.</p><p>"Nobody even permanently dies. What the fuck do you want me to do?" He stresses at the other inebriated director, currently slumped down on the table after failing to dramatically reach the bottles.</p><p>Wilbur shrugs, and his elbow bumps against one of the glasses, the liquor sloshing out as Dream takes it away. He gestures wildly. "I don't fucking know man, try making a fucking courthouse or some shit," he yells back.</p><p>He considers it, because he’s a fair person.</p><p>”That's a terrible idea," he replies in normal volume, because he's sober and he's not looking for a screaming match right now. There are a couple more people in the room who care about their eardrums and will despise him when they wake up in the morning to find that they've lost their hearing.</p><p>Also, here’s to ignoring the fact that Sapnap requested a Courthouse build after that mini-feud with George and Sapnap’s horse Joffrey — and all the primary members of the server were involved in the first ever court case to take place on the server during the Before Tommy Period. All for fun, of course. Nothing involving the plot itself. "We don't have a lawyer willing to act here, Wilbur. That's stupid."</p><p>Wilbur doesn't reply. Instead, he takes the clipboard from Dream’s grasp, plucks a pen from out of nowhere and begins writing. "He’s a really, really, <em>really</em> controlling person,” He enunciates loudly as he scribbles on the last page of what Dream knows had a list called <em>Reasons Why Dream Is A Tyrant. </em></p><p>Dream scowls, and tries to discreetly peer over his shoulder to look. Trying to read Wilbur’s writing while he’s drunk is like trying to decrypt Linear A, but he knows that when the director goes sober, he’ll find a way to read it. Out of spite.</p><p>Someone giggles. "Put down anger issues," they shout and the room gets louder as people chime in with yells of agreement.</p><p>"What?" Dream cries as Wilbur nods and writes it down. Anger issues? <em>Anger issues?</em> <em>What the fuck.</em> He snatches the godforsaken clipboard away and resists the urge to throw it out the window.</p><p>He does set it aside as an option, eyeing the window. It's a good back-up plan.</p><p>
  <em>Wait.</em>
</p><p>No. Not good, not good, not good. Who the fuck decided it was a good idea to hold the drunken writing session on the second floor with <em>windows</em>? Why is he noticing this problem just now?</p><p>Ah, fuck. Any moment now, and somebody is gonna—</p><p>"Oh, look. A pigeon!" Somebody yells and the people in the room go wild as they forget what they were doing and crowd near the window. Wilbur included.</p><p>Now the entire room is looking at that one pigeon outside like <em>Jesus fucking Christ </em>himself sent it down as a symbol of everlasting piece and prosperity.</p><p>Dream drops his head into his hands and mentally screams.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>PM</strong>
</p><p><strong>DREAM: </strong>phil</p><p><strong>PHILZA: </strong>Yes, Dream</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: so i might have a problem</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: today's the writing session</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: and wilbur is currently passed out in the backseat</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Do you know where he lives</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: yeah, i'm taking him there</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: i don't hv a key though</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: I have a key, I'll meet you there</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: What about tomorrow?</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: what about tomorrow now</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Nobody's going to direct tomorrow</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: dw phil i'll take over directing tomorrow</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: i just don't know what to do abt the daily scryer interview</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>:</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: You know what, don't worry about it. I'll take over that then</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: thanks phil</p><p><strong>DREAM</strong>: is there any way i can do to make it up to you?</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Get here fast and we can see</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>INTERVIEW WITH THE DAILY SCRYER</strong>
</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER: </strong>Hey guys! Welcome back to the Daily Scryer! I'm your host, [REDACTED] and today we're starting our show with a special guest: the man, the myth and the legend, please welcome famous actor and producer Philza Watson!</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Aye, hello to the Scryer-crowd!</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: So, to start off: the reception to the new episode keeps breaking your own viewer count records, man! And that's something that has never been seen before on a web-show before. Congratulations to your guys' success!</p><p><strong>PHILZA, chuckling</strong>: Thank you for the support from the entire crew and cast. We all appreciate each and every single one of you!</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: In a thanks from the entire cast of the Dream SMP, they've reached out to us and given us Philza to come on the show and do... <em>Six Questions And One!</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: I'm excited. Please ask away, people!</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: So the question box is currently open. Viewers, please remember to check general reminders to see what is allowed to ask for our guest. We don't want to make him uncomfortable, do we?</p><p><strong>PHILZA, slightly laughing</strong>: No, we don't.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: Our first question is in, and <strong>SootApologist</strong> asks: <em>how is the entire cast doing?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: They're all pretty happy, actually. They were ecstatic when they heard about the amount of positive reception they got from people!</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: As they deserve. So many viewers have been asking about this and spamming the question box: <em>what did the after-scene meant?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Ohh...</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER, continues on reading</strong>: I, for one, am also curious on what it meant for the SMP. <em>Is the Jschlatt and Wilbur cameo going to keep on going as the series progresses, or will they just stay cameos and nothing more?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Sorry guys, but I am in no position to spill the plot written by our directors, so we'll just have to leave that up to the viewers' interpretation.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER, nodding</strong>: Understandable. Next question is from <strong>evanwasfound</strong>: <em>The series is very fast-paced, with drama and fights breaking out in every episode we've seen so far. How do you guys plan on continuing and keeping up with the plot's fast and action-oriented pace?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: We'll just have to go further and beyond. Wilbur, Dream, and the entire cast? They'll be continually pushing the limit of action and drama every episode because if there's one thing I can reveal, it's that every single conflict happening in the episodes right now are being laid down just to start up the big one. It's going to be great!</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: Me and all of our viewers are glad to hear that. Oh, right— Here's another fan favorite question from the masses: <em>How is Fundy coping with people calling him a furry?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA, laughing</strong>: Oh, God. I remember the first day he put on the fox ears and tail. He locked himself in the dressing room to avoid anybody from seeing him but— you all know how it went down anyways. He's... adjusting to it, and it seems like he's alright with the costume design as long as nobody points out the fact that he's dressed like a... y'know.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER, also laughing</strong>: Ah. Good luck to Fundy. And our final question is from <strong>dsmp brainrot</strong>—</p><p>
  <em>Philza chuckles.</em>
</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER:</strong> <em>—You've selected a main </em><em>cast with different skillsets and strengths, like how Tommy is a child actor from the West End, Punz is a well-known and respected stuntman in the acting community, and Sapnap is a competitive track-and-field athlete for some examples. So far, they're all amazing. Do you guys have anything planned more for the casting?</em></p><p><strong>PHILZA:</strong> The thing is the story changes constantly. We have a plot laid out, but it changes to include characters that Wilbur assigns for a specific role, and rest assured that even with our expanding cast, we'll keep sticking to the same story.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: The question box is now closed. Thank you for answering our burning questions, Philza.</p><p><strong>PHILZA</strong>: Always a pleasure.</p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER</strong>: Is there anything you'd like to ask, or say to our audience before you leave?</p><p><strong>PHILZA, nodding:</strong> Ah, yes. Since Wilbur can't be here today, he passes on a message: <em>Vivamus, moriendum est.</em></p><p><strong>INTERVIEWER: </strong>How very <em>Wilbur</em>. Let's hear it for Phil Watson, everybody! Thank you, and see you guys again in a few minutes.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 4: THE NEW ERA</strong>
</p><p>"<em>Look. Shit's gone down, Wilbur,</em>" the teen's blunt voice comes through the call after a while.</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"<em>Yeah.</em>"</p><p>The brunette sighs, and begins walking off the spawn point, which is oddly surrounded by a cobblestone wall. "Go on, then. Give me the lowdown."</p><p>"It will be very, very, very biased," Tommy drawls, prolonging the moment, but Wilbur can tell that he's ready to do the dramatic retelling.</p><p>"Tell you what," Wilbur begins knocking on a tree, and frowns. He should be able to break a log already, but somehow the cracks reset, of some sort, halfway through. He keeps on continuing to prod it in curiosity. “I’m gonna stay on the server 'til I die. The minute I die, I'm off the server — and you know my track record with dying. So. Make it quick," he warns.</p><p>"Okay— just so you know: Fundy's in the wrong," The teen voices into the call exactlt when the chat log pops up.</p><p>"Fundy's in the wrong," Wilbur repeats as he opens the log. <em>STAY WHERE YOU ARE WILBUR</em> menacingly jumps out at him in capital letters. "Hold on; give me one second... and—"</p><p><em>fundy call me, </em>he types back into chat.</p><p>"<em>No—</em>" There’s a sound of Tommy running off, and while the sky dims, Wilbur assumes that Tommy saw the message, and sits down. He’ll be down here for a while, unless he racks his brain hard enough to figure out a way from the spawn trap. "<em>No, okay</em>— I'll explain to you what happened. So basically, I tried to give Tubbo's bee a high-five earlier—"</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>8 AM, WAREHOUSE SET; SIX DAYS BEFORE THE EPISODE RELEASE</strong>
</p><p>"Uh, I think I might be high enough, guys," Eret yells back down, standing still on the lift as tech support almost strangles him to death with all the wires they have on him.</p><p>At this point, they might as well do it.</p><p>Or it might be an elaborate murder plan to drop him down so he gets caught up in the wire, and chokes to death.</p><p>Dream hits different in just his green hoodie, without the mask and the full costume that makes up his terrifying ensemble in the famed Manhunt series, but even then, he's still obviously an adrenaline junkie who couldn't comprehend why reasonable people like Eret are generally wary of heights.</p><p>Why couldn't Wilbur direct on his first day on the set? Wilbur would at least have some sympathy.</p><p>The director looks up, and from Eret's point of view, he looks like an ant. An ant that mildly inconveniences him, and one he slightly considers stomping on.</p><p>"Nah," Dream decides, and gestures to the production team because he's cruel that way. "Get him a little higher, please."</p><p>"<em>Get him higher,</em>" the trigger-happy teenager beside the director chants. Eret likes Tommy, but the child is way too vocal and way too energetic for eight <em>something in the morning</em>. He supposes it's because he's not the one falling down eight meters anymore, and apparently according to the costume department, he finds joy in seeing other people suffer from the same things he complained about. "Come on! You on-set production folks dropped me higher than this!"</p><p>One of the two wiremen who’s tinkering with his harness and re-checking the safety gear mumble something along the lines of<em> yeah, because you bullied us into it, you fucking child.</em></p><p>Eret tries to send them a silent plea to stop the fucking lift from going higher. The same person pats his pockets down to make sure that he doesn't have any things on him while the other secures the wires again.</p><p>He doesn't give an inch. He just looks at Eret with soulless eyes and no sympathy. It's the look that haunts Eret every single time he looks into the mirror during those hours when reality becomes a melting pot of mac and cheese and cheesy melodramas in the background as he thinks about the ominous decay of time at two AM.</p><p>He nods to himself. <em>Understandable, have a nice day </em>is what his brain starts with and a half-disappointed, half-pleading whine leaves his mouth instead as both of them step off the platform and leave him alone on top of the lift that's slowly climbing higher. Ah, fuck.</p><p><em>Fuck</em>.</p><p>Eret's no coward. In fact, on any other day, he'd be ecstatic to jump down from a lift that's eight meters off the ground because that's something new that's never going to happen again in his modeling career.</p><p>It's just that his contacts are a problem. See, Eret himself passed his own character design with recommendations from a certain costume designer and approves of his character wearing milky white contacts, because it's <em>cool as fuck.</em></p><p>The problem with it is that his eyesight is a little blurry because of it.</p><p>The lift lurches and he yelps. Eret's heart wildly beats out of his chest as he flails around a little — <em>where the fuck are the wires, </em><em>I hate the contacts — </em>before his hands find the wires for support.</p><p><em>Ah, fuck</em>. He takes a deep, shuddering breath.</p><p>Yeah, he's partially blind now, and that's what makes jumping off a platform ten meters of the ground so terrifying. He trusts the production crew to make sure he falls right and in a way he knows will look amazing on screen, but there's this irrational fear lurking since he doesn't know where the fuck he's falling and all he can see is blurry blobs of green and a faint outline of the mat he's supposed to land on.</p><p>"Ready?" Dream calls out to the production crew making small adjustments to lighting as tech support begins to man the descender rig.</p><p>Eret takes another breath. He's got this. He's been practicing this entire bit with the stunt crew for two weeks in pre-production, he knows how this goes. He can fucking do this.</p><p>"On my count," Dream hollers, and the lighting above him dims, leaving him in darkness and even blurrier vision. <em>Fuck</em>. "Places, everyone! One!"</p><p>Eret crouches, feeling himself tense up as he hears the telltale whir of wires.</p><p>"Two!" He should be hearing his cue by now. What's happening?</p><p>"Three!" His palms slightly sweat. <em>It's fine,</em> Eret assures himself. <em>Just a tiny delay, and it'll come any moment now—</em></p><p>The next count is go and Eret jumps from the platform like he's on auto-pilot when Dream's yell of <em>WAIT</em> registers a few moments late and all that's going through his head is <em>I’m</em> <em>fucked—</em></p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Fundy|@FundyLive</strong>
</p><p>I walked on set to be Eret's moral support and now he's hanging from the ceiling</p><p><strong> <em>[video </em></strong> <strong><em>of Eret in his casual outfit hanging from the wires and looking annoyed as Tommy cackles in the background. Dream has his back to the camera and is gesturing around while the production crew is being chaotic trying to figure out what went wrong]</em> </strong></p><p>
  <em>741 comments and 563 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>56.7K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Eret|@The_Eret </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>You and Tommy just laughed at my time of need for five minutes... Friendship over &lt;/3</p><p>
  <em>629 comments and 784 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>46.1K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>WAREHOUSE SET; DURING FILMING</strong>
</p><p>Say what you want about Purpled, but at least, he's pretty consistent on the set.</p><p>He wakes up, takes the short walk to the <em>Dream SMP</em> studio and checks on the crew. He's not one of the main characters in the server, and that's pretty alright to him. He likes hanging out more with the set design and the stunt crew, and he's friendly enough that his UFO build design got approved to be on the outdoor set, despite him not having enough screen-time to be considered for it.</p><p>He spends three hours maximum on set before he takes the train to the other side of the city as a guest, part of the stunt crew or a competitor on Hypixel Entertainment's challenge shows. Take your pick; it always varies day-to-day. He goes home, plays a couple of games, eats and sleeps. Basically rinse and repeat. If it sounds boring and soul-sucking, it usually isn’t. He’s only required to come in; not to actually do anything. </p><p>Honestly? Purpled has more free time than he has work. It works out fine for him. Sometimes, his schedule switches around when he's required to film for the <em>SMP</em> or if he gets to participate in a <em>Bed Wars</em> or <em>Sky Wars</em> tournament. It all depends on the circumstances. </p><p>But he's still surprised whenever he gets a call to be on the set.</p><p>Since Tommy now has a hitlist of his enemies in his base, and he's one of three people on the <em>most enenyey </em>list alongside Alyssa and George for some reason, he's now scheduled for this small mini-drama shoot with the blond while Tommy rearranges his base to include a war room and a music room for the jukebox.</p><p>Purpled's a little touched.</p><p>Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't actually hate British people, he just made fun of the typical Briton stereotype on one of his Bedwars stints. But it's still touching to see that Tommy cared enough that the running gag warranted a spot on the hitlist.</p><p>He's done filming that scene, and normally he'd be hanging out with the stunt crew, because they're <em>cool</em> and it's always nice to get tips on how to better execute a move for the action bits that he does, but then Ponk rang him up to help with his scene and now he's in full gear and a harness, awaiting further instructions as the crew moves around to set up the Nether set.</p><p>Which is mostly just green screen, but then there's all the structures he has to climb or break or whatever.</p><p>"You're on drugs," Tommy says loudly beside the director's chair, because even though he said he was gonna bother Tubbo, he's kind of a liar. And a <em>bitch</em>, in Ponk's words.</p><p>"I'm not on drugs," From his position on the far right of the warehouse, Ponk yells in reply and hesitates. "Actually, maybe I am."</p><p>"Are you being drunk on set right now?" Tommy then asks.</p><p>"Yes?" The man half-laughs, and that's all they can say until Dream sits down on the director's chair and tosses Purpled an earpiece. He clips it on and makes his way down in the pit beside the Nether portal.</p><p>"Keep the banter going," Dream encourages as the top lights dim and the lighting turns a darker, dramatic red. "Places, everybody — <em>and get off the set, Tommy, you're on a voiceover for this part</em> — One, two, three... go!"</p><p>Tommy sighs, continuing the last scene as he speaks into the microphone. "Oh—Purpled," he says, pained.</p><p>It’s all satirical drama about how he left Tommy’s company in favor of Ponk’s fourteen-diamond nether rescue deal, but Purpled still rolls his eyes. Tommy just has that effect on everyone,</p><p>He wields his pickaxe and begins to mimic breaking the blocks. The green screen would take care of this. He shrugs. "Diamonds are diamonds, that's all I'm saying."</p><p>"You see my man Purpled, here?" Ponk enthusiastically yells. "Really was out here to help me. I'll remember this! <em>P Gang</em> to the death!"</p><p>Purpled winces. "<em>Don't</em>," he starts as he climbs up the pit, the harness steadily raising him up. "Don't call it the <em>P Gang</em>. There are a lot better things to call it than the P Gang."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Ponk|@DropsByPonk</strong>
</p><p>P GANG SUPREMACY</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[picture of Purpled and Ponk on set, grinning. Ponk is on a platform, and Purpled has harness and wires rigged to him as he climbs his way up the platform]</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>657 comments and 209 retweets</em>
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  <em>40.6K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Purpled|@burpled </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>Don’t. Don't call it the p gang</p><p>
  <em>591 comments and 324 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>36.9K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>What I wouldn't do to be part of the P gang</p><p>
  <em>1.2K comments and 732 retweets</em>
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  <em>59.1K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Ponk|@DropsByPonk </strong> <em>replied to tommyinnit</em></p><p>Just change your name to Pommyinnit, problem solved</p><p>
  <em>347 comments and 451 retweets</em>
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  <em>32K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your reply</em></p><p>Youre a real clever guy Ponk</p><p>
  <em>712 comments and 301 retweets</em>
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  <em>54K likes</em>
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  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; BEFORE FILMING</strong>
</p><p><br/>“Is Dream still getting ready to kill my villagers?" Tubbo finally asks Wilbur after a short while, impatiently tapping his foot.</p><p>Wilbur, who's finally back on set. Thank God.</p><p>The director sips on his coffee. "Ah. So about him," he trails off. "He might have had a little run-in with the prop dep. He'll be here soon, though. You know he hates being late to anything."</p><p>Tubbo frowns, fidgeting a little. He's not even supposed to be on set, because today is <em>his </em>off day. He's just here to bid his villager props goodbye.</p><p>You see, Tubbo gets it's a pretty stupid thing to get emotionally attached to a couple of props but that's because it's a first time — on any of his stints <em>ever</em> — that he gets creative freedom to request a prop, and while these villager props got mixed up with the iron golems he wanted during the prop handling nightmare fiasco a few days ago, he claimed them and they're now <em>his</em>. He took good care of them so the prop department didn't have to.</p><p>Point is, he's only here to witness their final moments as Dream murders them all as exposition without dialogue or anything. Just a brutal massacre, before they get shelved. </p><p>He's a little upset by that part, but it's gonna turn out fine later. All of it are just props, anyways.</p><p>"I'm sorry!" The actor in question runs in with full iron gear and his mask askew, huffing. "I— uh, wardrobe malfunction. The mask broke, so I had to get a replacement."</p><p>"No worries, man," Wilbur says easily, and pats his back for comfort. "We can take a fifteen-minute break before you start killing them, yeah?" He looks at Tubbo for confirmation. It's another thing that he likes about the directors; they're both considerate, thoughtful and respectful even with something as ridiculous as Tubbo's request.</p><p><em>Poor man looks tired</em>, Tubbo notes. He can understand. The man had been running around the entire set for three days to make sure everything went to plan and running himself dry. "Yeah, yeah! A few minutes isn't gonna hurt the schedule. Also, I’m not even supposed to be here, so go on," he assures.</p><p>Wilbur nods in understanding as Dream drops down into a chair, maybe to dose off for a couple minutes... or maybe fifteen.</p><p>And you know what? Tubbo finds that he doesn’t mind waiting for a bit longer.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 4: A NEW ERA</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>"So your problem with the server owner essentially is that he's being too controlling?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I mean... yeah. He can say whatever the hell he wants about keeping order and bullshit, but..."</em>
</p><p>The phantom chorus of dead villagers rise from the barren ground.</p><p>
  <em>”He’s not gonna fool me.”</em>
</p><p>Wilbur sighs.</p><p><em>“Tommy?” </em>He says after a while.</p><p>“<em>Yeah?</em>”</p><p>"<em>Come sit with me?</em>" Wilbur pats the empty spot next to him on the bench. The teenager complies and relaxes.</p><p>It's been a long, long day and the sunset looks beautiful outside Tommy's base.</p><p>It always is beautiful in that unique way. The way the colors would stretch and caress everything in soft warm light with the promise of the sun's return the next day.</p><p>Tommy looks at his brother enjoying the cool air and the view—</p><p><em>(Look</em>, the world whispers and warns and nobody listens, <em>look at him—)</em></p><p>—And looks away at the sunset, enjoying his company and the comfortable silence.</p><p>(But what he doesn't know is how the light changes someone into something sinister. Light is a finicky thing that curves around shadows and weaves through the air, but Wilbur—)</p><p>“<em>So he hates people going against him, yeah?</em>”</p><p>”<em>Yeah</em>.”</p><p>(Wilbur's face is covered in shadows, all sharp angles and a dark profile as his soft smile changes into something more darker and crooked, like the seed of a tree with gnarled and twisted branches. </p><p>Maybe Wilbur himself doesn't know yet.</p><p>But the world does.</p><p>And the world spins faster as the sun drops behind the horizon, like the fall of curtains signaling the mark of an act.)</p><p>"<em>Well, what if we started a drug empire?</em>"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>yeah. i noticed that apparently my paragraphs are getting bigger and intimidating, so i actually cut down 4.6k to 4.2k. some paragraphs might be a little boring to read through, so uh oop. i’m sorry.</p><p>i’ve also frustratingly scrapped a few scenes i might include later on. it’s the eret &amp; fundy bonding off-screen and tubbo &amp; sapnap &amp; dream bonding while patching up tubbo’s house bc i’ve implied at the start of this chapter that wilbur spawned after tommy burned down tubbo’s house and i’m soft for brother bonding</p><p>also hell yeah ponk &amp; purpled scene. i watched through the last hour of purpled’s unlisted vod that took me thirty minutes to find and the dynamic of the trio (tommy, purpled and ponk) gives me so much serotonin. </p><p>that last scene was dramatic as hell, and you’ll need to wait for the next chapter to see tommy’s reaction :&gt;</p><p>idk if the next chapters are gonna be long, i just want to make it pass my 3k word count goal per chapter. but i’ll make it epic and include more scenes + shenanigans since this chapter is a bit heavy on exposition.</p><p>kudos, comments and bookmarks fuel me! ty for the support &lt;3</p><p>p.s haha i just checked the word count i apparently have 4.4k words. oops.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. george’s interlude (episode ?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which the production crew remembers that George is on the cast and Dream hops on to bother him early in the morning.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>wooooo! POG!!! I JUST HIT 1K HITS. THIS IS INSANE. I LOVE YOU GUYS</p><p>this isn’t the lmanberg episode because i cant speedrun research :(( i’m still taking my time, but anyways, here’s one of the scrapped sections for the next chapter.</p><p>also the only reason i put george’s pov in here even though he’s not gonna be part of this episode is because i just found out via dttwt that the mf got dethroned because he didn’t want to be involved with the dsmp lore. i feel like roundhouse-kicking someone in the jaw. that fucking bitch. all that angst potential and FOR WHAT? </p><p>yes george’s a drama queen because i said so. have an extra long snippet with him because i want to.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's the first time in a long while since George was at the studio this early in the morning, and he already feels like Death reincarnate.</p><p>He's not used to the bright sunlight flooding in through the windows, for one. It's one of those things about being <em>a "pasty white-ass vampire"</em> according to Sapnap; but then that's Sapnap, <em>who drinks carbonated melon milk</em>, so why the hell would he listen to him?</p><p>George really wishes he didn't come. As far as he knows, he's not gonna be in this week's episode — but he will be next week. He's not due to film yet.</p><p>So why the fuck did he come when Dream asked for him in an ominous, urgent message about <em>I NEED HELP URGENT STUDIO</em> thirty minutes ago when he was sleeping peacefully?</p><p>Because he's a good friend, that's why.</p><p>No questions needed, he just slipped on the fastest outfit he could and booked it. He didn't even take one look at the temperature, which sucked, because it was cold as hell outside. He shivered all the way on his walk to the studio, and for what?</p><p>So he's slightly resentful, but he's still a good friend — because it's been fifteen minutes and he still couldn't find the man in question anywhere in the studio.</p><p>For all he knew, he could've woken up, texted George and fallen back asleep.</p><p>That would've been reasonable concerning his schedule, because George understands. Their schedules usually align, and the day mostly ends with both of them hanging out at vaguely concerning times during the late-night studio editing. Sometimes, he’ll consider sleeping in the trailer — <em>not bothering to go home because it's too much of a hassle </em>— while Dream works in the corner, and Sapnap takes over somewhere around two hours later.</p><p>But still. It was a pain in the ass sometimes. Where was Dream anyways?</p><p>He bumps into Tubbo in the hallway near the breakroom, holding a cup of coffee. Oh, caffeine. He should've definitely stopped by Starbucks first and gotten a cup of coffee. The pissbaby could've waited a bit longer.</p><p>"Good morning, Tubbo," he greets, because he's polite. Also, he likes the teen. "Where are you going?"</p><p>"Hi, George," the kid replies, a little surprised. To be fair, he almost never showed up during the morning shoots, so the surprise is warranted. But he recovers and waves at him with his free hand. George smiles a little. Tubbo and almost every teenager on the cast just had that calming effect on everyone. He temporarily forgets his resentment. "I'm just on my way to Wilbur's office."</p><p>"What for?"</p><p>"Oh, just to check up on him. He spent last night locked in his office during one of those bouts of creative writing sessions, y'know the ones — and now I've sent Tommy to wake him up because he's supposed to meet Dream to talk about it," he explains. "I'm going to see if Tommy woke him up, actually."</p><p>"Wait, hold on," George says, and frowns. "You sent Tommy to wake up Wilbur?"</p><p>"Yeah," Tubbo nods as if he didn't just send a national disaster to go wake up the other director.</p><p>Who might as well bang pots together, brew coffee and pour it all over Wilbur's head. He's the one teen on the cast who doesn't calm everyone down, rather turning everybody near him into a feral state. He pities Wilbur right now. George hopes he's never going to experience being on that end.</p><p>"Don't worry, he's not gonna do anything," the kid adds in reassurance, as if hearing George's inner monologue. "Big Law doesn't allow shit, so if Tommy does try anything — well, he knows what's coming for him."</p><p>George just blinks. He doesn't who the hell Big Law is, but if Tommy — <em>the gremlin who once tried to fistfight Fundy after calling him a furry and survived</em> — is wary of Big Law, then he sounds terrifying. And ominous.</p><p>And, look. George spots someone leaving the breakroom, and his mood meter instantly plummets as he scowls.</p><p>"Hey Dream!" He doesn't mean to yell, but to be fair. Dream baited him to the studio without ever saying what it was for and where the hell he was.</p><p>"Oh, hey George," his bleary-eyed friend yawns, looking right at home in a green hoodie and old jeans as he also greets Tubbo. "Good morning, Tubbo."</p><p>Tubbo happily greets him back, and passes him the cup of coffee.</p><p><em>What the fuck</em>. George tries to not let his disappointment show on his face. He can be mature about this. <em>Tubbo, why? Why did he— why did the heathen get the caffeine?</em></p><p>"You're on set, today," he says as both of them wave at Tubbo, the brunette setting on his merry way to Wilbur's office.</p><p>He rolls his eyes, still a little hung up about the caffeine. Yeah, dumbass. Talk about the obvious.</p><p>"I think they finally remembered that I'm also part of the cast," he says sarcastically. "Also, you messaged me. Why did you message me and arrive fifteen minutes late?"</p><p>Dream scratches his neck. "I might've fallen asleep," he admits. "Sorry about that. And I was also supposed to meet Wilbur in five, but I don't think he's up yet—"</p><p>George frowns at the cup of coffee cooling in Dream's hands as they walk down the hallway. So that's why Tubbo gave him caffeine. "I can't believe you. Both of your schedules are being set up by children," he notes, unimpressed.</p><p>Dream blanks for a moment and processes it, taking a long sip from his cup of coffee. George gets it, though. It's a little embarrassing, because apparently nobody had approached the directors before Tubbo and Tommy's intervention.</p><p>Philza would've, though. And Callahan. They were both pretty responsible people who were on-set for the most part, and they always had a healthy sleeping schedule that George is jealous of. They definitely would've noticed the two missing directors.</p><p>"Did you mute your phone?" George asks. “Or put any of the producers on spam?”</p><p>Dream takes a longer sip from his cup of coffee.</p><p>He's not gonna get any answers in this state, and that much he can tell. It's a little weird to see Dream before he's had an energy drink or a cup of coffee, demonically vibrating like a tense wire and ready to start the day.</p><p>So, he just goes back to the subject of why he was summoned in the first place. Straightforward questions, right?</p><p>"So... why am I here again?"</p><p>"Basically, Wilbur messaged me two hours ago about this new thing he wrote. And since we're now on the way to meet and discuss it, I wanna know your opinion on it since you mostly manage tech support and..." Dream waves his free hand around. "Editing."</p><p>"Okay...?" George still doesn't see the problem, though. "But you guys managed to do morning shoots without my supervision — why would you ask for help now?"</p><p>Dream drains the entire cup as they both walk out the studio and down one of the isolated pathways to the outdoor set. Now he really wants a cup of caffeine.</p><p>And, he’s also cold. </p><p>"Well, you know Wilbur," Dream says after a while. "He's added a few fantasy features to the script, and he'll want to know if it's all possible to include."</p><p>George hums, the sunlight falling on his face. He lowers his shades to cover his eyes. "Well, it all depends on what Wilbur says."</p><p>Dream shrugs, as if expecting his answer. They both walk in silence, enjoying each others' company as they see the swarm of people frantically going around on the outdoor growing closer and closer.</p><p>"Dream!" A man screams behind them.</p><p>The blond sighs, stuffing his hands in his hoodie. It's really cold outside, and George shivers a little. "Do you wanna come with?" He painfully asks George, and somewhere in his green eyes, he can tell that the director is begging for the company</p><p>George considers this for a second. But he puts his priorities first, and his priority now is finding caffeine, and finding a warm, warm place. That. Also, dealing with Wilbur is <em>his </em>problem, not George's. He's not gonna rope him in just because the two directors chose a bad time to meet up.</p><p>"Nah," he waves off. "Go discuss it first, then both of you can come back to me when you've sorted it out," he begins walking off the path, waving at Wilbur.</p><p>"Where are you going?" Dream yells.</p><p>"Starbucks!" He shouts back, because he's desperate for caffeine. If he was Death reincarnate earlier, now he’s gonna turn into the Grim Reaper all because some bitch named Dream called him up early in the morning. "Be back in a few.”</p><p><em>Ha fucking ha. Sike.</em> He's not gonna be back for an hour.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>listen. i’m not supposed to post. i was writing this part as one of the sections of the first episode in the l’manberg arc, then i hooked it up to a word counter and now??? 1.4k? that’s a lot for one section, and for reference, i have 7 sections planned (not including the twitter parts) for the episode. bruh. </p><p>my first instinct was to cut this into 800 words, before my brain went: “you reached 1k hits just post it you coward”</p><p>bruh what the hell is happening to me. i just wanted to write 1k words before i started writing a lot, and readjusted my word goal to 3k per chapter ever since two days ago. like... i’m alright with writing 4k words, but idk about you guys. i think you might get bored if i wrote like... 5k+ words of dialogue and wisecracks. </p><p>note to self: the more you try to be funnier, the more your writing will flop. is my writing flopping in quality guys?</p><p>i’m gonna take a week to write this episode. i wanna pace this right, and make sure that the interactions are all in character + i wanna write more about their dynamics. also, research. i’m looking through vods and clips to find the exact dialogue lajskssks</p><p>thanks for the support! consider leaving a kudos, comment or a bookmark if you enjoy my writing so far :))!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. my l’manberg, pt. 1 (episode 5)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Look around — look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.”</p><p>[alternative chapter summary: in which Fundy accidentally pushes Wilbur to turn it into a Hamilton roleplay.</p><p>You’re welcome.]</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I HAVE TWITTER NOW! CHECK ME OUT AT @n_owsy IF YOU WANNA INTERACT + SHARE HCS OR INFLUENCE THE STORY!</p><p>ALSO WHAT! WE’RE ALMOST 200 KUDOS AND JUST PASSED 1.5K HITS LIKE... TWO DAYS AGO. WTH. I LOVE YOU GUYS.</p><p>also loads of fucking exposition instead of shenanigans :( sorry yall</p><p>more shenanigans next ep because. violence. and the ppl (especially sapnap and punz) like voicing their frustrations through explosions. and forest fires. legally committed arson. also yeah more shenanigans. i got parts already written in advance</p><p>also lets not fuck around here. its been four months and we are all mature now to agree that it’s a hamilton roleplay right? right. you’re welcome</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>WILBUR'S OFFICE; LATE AT NIGHT</strong>
</p><p>Look— Fundy can complain all he wants, but Eret is currently having the time of his life.</p><p>Sure, he didn't expect sitting in Wilbur's office while the man was writing the next story arc down to be any kind of exciting since they're only three people in one room, but.</p><p>Wilbur exceeds expectations. He always does, whether it's from one of his songs to his storytelling. It's not that surprising to find that even during one of his crazy writing sessions, he is easily one of the people Eret will gladly spend time with.</p><p>You see, Eret is only here to annoy Fundy.</p><p>Who is also trying to currently annoy Wilbur, but evidently his plan backfired, and now his friend is stressing out with his face in his hands as Wilbur vibes to the Hamilton soundtrack while writing like a maniac in his little notebook.</p><p>(Because when writing and production find out that Fundy was the only sober and therefore the only responsible adult in the room who blasted Hamilton on repeat while encouraging Wilbur to write another fucking arc... well. Eret sips from his can of light beer, smug.</p><p>Fundy's a goner now, and both of them know it.)</p><p>Eret bops to Yorktown as Wilbur nods his head to the beat, both of them clinking their cans to cheer along with the soundtrack. He's not a big fan of alcohol, but he doesn't mind getting a little tipsy tonight.</p><p>Take note, kids. Drinking excessively is bad for your health. If you're not yet legal, don't drink. Simple as that.</p><p>See, Eret's a good role model. Fuck whatever Fundy says — the man tried to tackle some kids on-set during filming because they called him a furry. He's not a good example.</p><p>"Wait, hold on, hold on," Wilbur exclaims, digging out a leather notebook out of his drawer.</p><p>It's one of the non-important background props, but there had been a surprising shortage of those after the last delivery of props. Eret said before that he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Wilbur smuggled those into his office, and he's fucking right.</p><p>He keeps winning tonight.</p><p>Fundy rocks back and forth in his seat as Wilbur starts to write. He looks so fucking done, Eret notes and cackles. <em>Ha. Serves him right.</em></p><p>"Alright, what do you boys think about the Declaration of Independence?" Wilbur asks, flourishing the book.</p><p>Fundy immediately jumps to turn off his phone streaming the Hamilton playlist. He would've done it a long time ago, but then he's also bopping to Hamilton because he does like listening to it.</p><p>And he backs off almost immediately, edging away from the phone as he catches the brunette's silent challenges. He moves away, moving his office chair a meter further out, because Eret is wearing his heeled boots, and Fundy knows how much a kick would hurt if it came from him. But that’s not <em>that </em>relevant.</p><p>A foot away would be preferred, but he's satisfied, and Eret leans forward to make out the letters adorning the full page.</p><p>There is a massive <em>Declaration of Independance</em> scribbled on the front of the first page and Wilbur is beaming like a child showing his mother the drawing he did on the first day of Kindergarten.</p><p><em>Aww</em>. Eret smiles, and nods approvingly like the absolutely proud mom he is while the furry in denial painstakingly barks at him from his corner of the room to <em>shut the fuck up.</em></p><p>No, he's not gonna shut up. Eret sharply smiles at Fundy, — <em>who cowers in terror as he should</em> — turns the page, and begins encouraging Wilbur to continue writing.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>PM</strong>
</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: tommy</p><p><strong>gremlin child:</strong> What do you want wil</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: wait why are you up this late</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>:</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: are you streaming </p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>:</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: Whats it to you</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: it's a school night tommy</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: do you want me to tell motherinnit</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: JESUS CHRITS NO</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: Wil please</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: Dont tell her</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: fine i won't</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: i won’t if you help me out with something</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: Okay?</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: so if hypothetically i make a new nation</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: what should i call it</p><p>
  <strong>gremlin child:</strong>
</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Is this for the smp</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>what</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong><strong>: </strong>no</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Why didnt you ask Tubbo</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>he said and i quote "Not Dream SMP"</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>wait fuck no its not for the smp ignore that</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: You're a weird man Wil</p><p><strong>gremlin child</strong>: Dont fucking put that in the script</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong>: yeah tommy i just told you i didn't want to</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong><strong>: </strong>i just said if HYPOTHETICALLY</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy</strong><strong>: </strong>i made a new nation</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>what do i call it</p><p><strong>gremlin child:</strong> </p><p><strong>gremlin child:</strong> ...Does this new nation have women</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>no</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>none yet</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Call it Mantopia</p><p>
  <strong>dirty crime boy:</strong>
</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>tommy.</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Wilbur.</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>what if i'm hypothetically serious</p><p><strong>gremline child: </strong>What if Im hyoitehtically tired of your bullshit</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>well to be fair it's past your bedtime</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>you should go to sleep</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>FUKC YOU</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>after you answer my hypothetical question</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>fine</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Manberg</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Wait no that sounds too American</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>what if i add an L to make it european</p><p><b>dirty crime boy:</b> because most of our enemies are american</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>like la manberg</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>no</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy:</strong> like... L'Manberg</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Isnt that french</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>still european</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Hm. Doesnt sound that bad</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>thanks tommy</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>for answering my hypothetical question</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>No problem</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Wait I do have a problem</p><p><strong>gremlin child: </strong>Shut the fucku p and stop clogging my notifs with spam you dickhead</p><p><strong>dirty crime boy: </strong>go to sleep child</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>WAREHOUSE; EARLY IN THE MORNING</strong>
</p><p>"Y'know Wil, the drug empire sounds kinda lame in context." Tommy tries to say in the gentlest way possible. He's a little disappointed that Wilbur dragged him all the way from his trailer for this.</p><p>Apparently Wilbur had personally commissioned someone out of his own pocket to build a Camarvan two months prior in pre-production. It basically looked like the Fortnite bus, but cooler. And more epic, because Tommy says so.</p><p>So why does he know this, and why should it matter?</p><p>Simple enough. He saw the blueprint and the plans for it way before when he was busy annoying the hell out of Wilbur during the pre-production period. See? Being annoying pays off.</p><p>Most of the time, it really does.</p><p>But now he’s trying his absolute best to <em>annoy</em> his way out of this situation, but that evidently failed and now all they're doing is awaiting its’ arrival.</p><p>Tommy isn't against it or anything. He thought it was really cool at the time, but now that he knows that it was just the base for their new drug empire - he’s not as hyped as he wanted to be. It’s a little disappointing, because he really, <em>really</em> wanted the power tower to be the base of operations instead.</p><p>"Man," Wilbur just sighs happily, ignoring him. He grins like the maniac on coffee he always is as he spreads his arms to welcome the new arrival. "I already love her so much."</p><p>Tommy rolls his eyes. He's being fucking delusional. He hasn't even seen the van yet, and he's already raving.</p><p>The duo stand aside as someone from the production crew rolls in a huge truck carrying a van.</p><p>Tommy blinks. A slightly modified van?</p><p><em>Wait</em>.</p><p><em>Forget what he said</em>.</p><p>The Camarvan, Tommy will acknowledge, is fucking pog.</p><p>The awaiting prop dep, also on standby with them, swarms the van as soon as the van touches the ground.</p><p>According to the plans: Wilbur told them to make it look ready for living, with the added request for more marble top counters along the side of most of the bus with a small backroom for storage. Also, there was a hell lot of windows that gave off the illusion of wide space and such.</p><p>For all the chests, brewing stands, furnaces and anvil shit.</p><p>Tommy sighs. You're not allowed to bother prop dep while they're working unless you're... fucking suicidal, maybe. But Wilbur looks like he's enjoying this mundane shit, and Tommy himself got nothing to pretty much do so except follow him anywhere.</p><p>It's literally what Phil told him to do. <em>Follow Wilbur around.</em></p><p>Phil's a great guy and all, but right now, he's silently contemplating minor destruction of property as Wilbur checks in with the crew and zones out for a bit.</p><p>He blinks, startled as he lets himself be steered far away from the scene after the routine check.</p><p>"Uh, Wil?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Where are we going?" He asks suspiciously as they exit the warehouse and go to the parking lot. Huh. Were they actually going somewhere after the routine check?</p><p>"We're only here to see it arrive, Tommy," he says, amused. "Beside, we have that costume fitting planned for us by the town, yeah?"</p><p>Tommy blinks again. <em>What costume bullshit now?</em></p><p>Wilbur sighs, and unlocks the car. "I'll explain later. Just get in the fucking car, you gremlin."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Tubbo|@TubboLive</strong>
</p><p>The hto dog van looks cool</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[picture of Tubbo and Eret posing by the Camarvan. Fundy's banging his head against it]</em> </strong>
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  <em>910 comments and 1.5K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>87.1K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your comment</em></p><p>Tubbo</p><p>
  <em>801 comments and 978 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>54K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Tubbo|@TubboLive </strong> <em>replied to tommyinnit's reply</em></p><p>Yes</p><p>
  <em>790 comments and 753 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>50.6K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to TubboLive's reply</em></p><p>Youre late</p><p>
  <em>800 comments and 823 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>43.2K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Tubbo|@TubboLive </strong> <em>replied to tommyinnit's reply</em></p><p>I know, sorry :( Ill catch up to you in a few</p><p>
  <em>624 comments and 747 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>38.9K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Wilbur Soot</strong>✔️|@<strong>WilburSoot </strong><em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>hang on Tubbo you might be on to something</p><p>
  <em>1.2K comments and 936 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>79.1K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; LUNCH BREAK</strong>
</p><p>"This is lovely," Tommy says through a bunch of meat in his mouth. How Purpled understands him is still a mystery, but apparently that came as perks to being rivals or some sort. He hates it. "FatherInnit actually barbecued this for hours — two hours actually."</p><p>He picks a piece of chicken off his container of food. They were on lunch break on set and Wilbur was off the set, looking for something in his office. <em>About a Declaration or something?</em> Purpled wasn't really paying attention.</p><p>The actors were just chatting about the new storyline essentially, and Tommy changed the topic again like he did a few minutes ago, and he’s a little miffed. He enjoyed talking about the last topic.</p><p>He inwardly rolls his eyes. "Unrelated," he mutters as he quietly grabs his water bottle to drink.</p><p>"Who's FatherInnit?" asks Sapnap off-handedly, who's taking turns in strapping his Netherite gear on for the next scene in about fifteen minutes and taking bites from his own packed lunch.</p><p>They're all just <em>mommy's boys</em> essentially. Purpled's not ashamed to say that because he <em>loves </em>his mom and he'd die for her, alright? Fuck the manly stereotypes.</p><p>Tommy just rolls his eyes hard enough that Purpled can hear him do it even with his back turned. "Oh, start guessing, Sapnap, you stupid bitch," he says heatedly as he swallows his bite and stabs the fork in the brunette's direction. "My name is TommyInnit, my mother's called MotherInnit — my dad's name is gonna be—"</p><p>The brunette narrows his eyes at him as he lowers his spork from his mouth. Oh, great. Drama. Between the two people that hung out most with Wilbur Soot. Purpled really wishes he had popcorn, caught in between this whole weird mess. "Stop calling me a stupid bitch."</p><p>"Why not?” He eggs on. </p><p>"Because, you fucking child," Sapnap says under his breath. “We <em>will </em>have problems.”</p><p>Tommy snorts in response. “What are you gonna do? You’re shorter than me. I can kick your ass,” he challenges, referencing the brunette’s old tweet. Purpled barely resists the urge to slap his hand over his mouth, because even though he likes Sapnap better... the bitching contest is hilarious. Maybe they should go act for a reality show instead, or something. </p><p>“Shut the fuck up, child,” Sapnap grumbles, because while he could definitely kick Tommy’s ass, that height quip was apparently a blow to his pride and— <em>yeah, Purpled’s not gonna stop this laugh.</em></p><p>He snickers as Sapnap’s eyes briefly narrows at Tommy and <em>oh, he’s gonna commit arson again. </em>And by the looks the brunette is giving him, he’s gonna get dragged into it. Joy.</p><p>"Don’t tell me to shut up," The blond snorts, because Tommy doesn’t know when to stop. “You say that like something’s gonna happen — I mean, when have I ever been dealt with a consequence, Sapnap?”</p><p>Purpled and Sapnap share a look.</p><p>Tommy—<em>M</em><em>y actions have consequences?!—</em>Innit is actually questioning whether he's ever dealt with an actual consequence in the amount of on-screen and off-screen conflicts he's been in, which included the burning of Ponk's lemon tree — he wasn't active yet during it, but he knows it was bloody and the moral of that story was to never mess with Ponk and his lemon trees ever again.</p><p>That and Purpled’s heard of the times where he also encouraged Wilbur <em>(despite being told against by the production crew and the producers - he's heard that Philza begged Tommy to shut up about it)</em> to start the drug empire arc last week and now he's gonna challenge the pyromaniac on set.</p><p>Ah. He can already see the bruises and the cold packs being prepared by the med team for Tommy, and the future where they’re going to need a forest soon.</p><p>To his credit, the older teenager just scoffs and finishes his lunch, setting it aside. "Just so you know, your punishment will be much, much worse for you—" He warns as he begins strapping on his gauntlets, referring to the jail scene they were about to start with.</p><p>Yeah, Purpled’s on that plan, because annoying TommyInnit, <em>who was stuck in a jail cell and unable to retaliate, </em>is just a window of opportunity waiting to be exploited.</p><p>"What?" Tommy cries, his smug smile falling. "How does the scene have any relation? This is just..." he trails off angrily as he picks up a piece of potato and puts it in his mouth.</p><p>"Fuck," he manages, and begins looking for his water bottle. Purpled tries to keep his face neutral and blank as he discreetly passes it off to Sapnap. "It's too hot— <em>fuck</em>, <em>the whole bit</em>—"</p><p>"Anything you say can and will be held against you," Purpled says, taking it further because. He likes pissing the Briton off, and that's what they like to do to each other.</p><p>Tommy, while out of breath, manages to yell at him. His lungs are weird, man. He could handle hot potatoes and yelling at the same time, and it is weirdly impressive. "<em>YOU ARE A CORRUPT POLICE FORCE</em>, <em>you stupid son of a bitch,</em>" he angrily yells through a mouthful of hot potato.</p><p>Sapnap just chuckles as he throws Tommy his water bottle. The blond fumbles with it for a bit and drinks, while giving both of them at the same time the stink eye.</p><p>If only Tommy knew how ironic this was.</p><p>(Hint, hint: It's not the only flaming-hot food item that's going to happen today.)</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Eret|@The_Eret</strong>
</p><p>hey <span class="u">@WilburSoot</span> was the Camarvan supposed to have this</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[picture of a hot dog suddenly on top of the camarvan and on fire]</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>654 comments and 436 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>56.7K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>Wil just so you know I told the bastards not to do it but they still did</p><p><strong>Sapnap✔️|@sapnap </strong> <em>replied to tommyinnit's reply</em></p><p>just so you know purpled and i regret nothing</p><p><strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot </strong> <em>replied to sapnap's reply</em></p><p>WHAT THE FUCK BRO</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to WilburSoot's reply</em></p><p>I told them to stop Wilbur I said you wouldn't like it</p><p><strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>THAT'S BADASS AS FUCK</p><p><strong>Purpled|@burpled </strong> <em>replied to WilburSoot</em></p><p>You're welcome man</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to WilburSoot</em></p><p>i</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 5: MY L'MANBERG, PT. 1</strong>
</p><p>"Look around—" Wilbur starts.</p><p>"—at how happy we are to be alive, right now," Tommy completes as Wilbur shows him the small plot of land surrounded by yellow and black borders.</p><p>"So, remember the beginning? Remember what they said?" Wilbur continues, unbothered by Tommy's interruption. "Remember, they laughed at us at the beginning — and, and look at us. Look at our land.”</p><p>He nudges Tommy to follow him, and he talks while they reach one of the top points of their land. "For all that happened for the past week... we’e been through a lot, and we’ve seen so much. We’ve built many monuments that will sing of L’manberg’s legacy — and we’ve worked so hard for this."</p><p>He turns to the teen, his face a little serene and serious. Tommy straightens his spine a little as Wilbur's eyes look at him with a steely gaze. "But Tommy - I want to ask you a question. All you've done for this nation is you've been— you're one of the faces of it, right?"</p><p>Tommy shrugs, and nods. "Thank you, thank you,” he says as Wilbur sighs at him.</p><p>"But you need to understand that you've done very little in terms of... set-up. I mean, look behind you," The general points at the newly-built borders about to built higher. "Look at Eret, working hard and—"</p><p>He sighs, running a hand through his hair and trails off, looking at Tommy's downcast expression, looking away from him. Tommy. His brother, not by blood — but by life. Hesitant, rash, bold and young.</p><p>He puts a solid, reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Tommy, I just need to know — are you devoted to this revolution?"</p><p>"Yeah, of course, Wil. You know — you know I’m fully committed to this revolution.”</p><p>And the way the blond says it fiercely and sincerely with a spark of passion in the blond teen's eyes —</p><p>Wilbur smiles, and nods.</p><p>"Well, will you be my right hand man, TommyInnit?"</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>L'MANBERG; OUT-DOOR SET; BEFORE FILMING</strong>
</p><p>She's not to blame for the forest fire, alright?</p><p>That was Sapnap's fault, and anybody with a brain can tell that Sapnap running out of the forest with a smile on his face was an omen of something bad happening that you should never ignore.</p><p>But no— the child had to see her exploring the grounds without her knowing there was anybody on set, alert Wilbur and chase after her with an axe. Alyssa is no coward, but she's been on the end of Tommy swinging a weapon at her before and she does not want to experience it again.</p><p>Tommy swings at her helmeted head, and she ducks, rolling into the undergrowth. She's not out of shape or anything, it's just that she's not used to wearing armor <em>(which was fake and painted to look different, so the weight shouldn't matter that much) </em>and diving on dirt to get away from a trigger-happy child and the camera crew following them.</p><p>Alyssa is aware that it was a joke, a running gag of sorts. It's just apparently the camera crew decided to go along with it and now she's getting chased.</p><p>This is horrible. This is downright embarrassing.</p><p>"I found her! In our land! Wearing armor!" Tommy cries in the distance as she swings over the border they've made. "I'm gonna— I'm just start killing her; <em>it's in my blood—"</em></p><p>She slides down one of the dirt mounds, runs through a bunch of low-hanging tree branches and emerges into the wooden path.Relief floods her as she breaks out into a sprint.</p><p>Wilbur from the sidelines yells. She doesn't know who he's yelling at though; he only joined the set now after a short break in his office for something. She doesn't... really care at the moment.</p><p>Tommy tries to get her with an axe, and despite the fact that it was only made of plastic and styrofoam, it nicks her side. It doesn’t cause pain or anything — but it does heighten her anxiety. <em>God</em>. She wishes she spent longer torturing him on the homicidal spree during episode two.</p><p>Alyssa curses and sprints faster down the path.</p><p>Wait — <em>maybe she does care</em>. Because it only registers now to her that the director yelled at them <em>to leave the game</em>. But why would Wilbur tell Tommy to act like he's leaving the game? Unless—</p><p><em>Oh. </em>Alyssa stops in her path, swipes her hand in midair as if summoning a panel out of nowhere and slams her fist down on an imaginary <em>leave game </em>button. It's an awkward way to act — and maybe a bit cowardly, but you're free to take Alyssa's place if you wanna try.</p><p>Tommy, smart kid he is, fully stops in front of her and begins to feign irritation at her getting away as Alyssa slumps to the ground in relief. <em>Oh, thank God.</em></p><p>She's never going on set anymore.</p><p>Never again.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 4: MY L'MANBERG, PT.1</strong>
</p><p>"Who the fuck is—" Wilbur squints in the distance.</p><p>"Uh.. oh..." Tommy winces as he sees what Wilbur saw - a flash of enhcanted armor and a green hood. "That's Dream."</p><p>The man drops from his position in the trees, having been spotted. He easily scales the walls, and begins walking on them as the older scoffs and comes nearer to the border. "No armor and no weapons in our country!" Tommy calls out.</p><p>"Yeah, we use our words."</p><p>"We use our words to fight like civilized men.”</p><p>Dream stays silent for a while as he takes off his armor and deposits them in his inventory. His hood flutters in the breeze as his eerie blank mask stares down at them. "So it's the land of pussies."</p><p>Tommy splutters, and Wilbur puts a hand on his shoulder. "Not now, Tommy," he hisses, trying to calm the teen down. "Don't do anything you'll regret."</p><p>Tommy takes a deep breath as Wilbur begins to talk to Dream — one leader from another. His hands clasped behind his back, his back straight and chin high. </p><p>The world spins just as it does, if only a little bit slower in anticipation of what comes next.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>WAREHOUSE SET; AT DUSK</strong>
</p><p>Despite Sapnap being fairly athletic and had specifically trained his endurance for prolonged periods of physical activity, he's really thankful that the weather decided not to bitch today and stay cool. </p><p>Well, that was earlier.<br/><br/>That’s what he said earlier, and he takes it back. The weather is a <em>motherfucking bitch</em>, because it took his tiny, insignificant wish too far and now it’s raining outside, leading to the production crew deciding to film in one of the warehouses.</p><p>Sapnap <em>hates </em>filming in warehouses for scenes. It’s hot and it’s getting really stuffy walking around in a small space with his two layers of clothing plus the armor he had on him, and he couldn't tug on his collar enough times to cool down.</p><p>He's suffocating, and drowning in hours’ worth of sweat. Which wasn't a good combination.</p><p>At least he had a bandana that kept most of his hair back, because Purpled was absolutely suffering in misery next to him. Yeah, they’ve bonded over <em>bullying Tommy</em>, <em>the hto dog van prank a couple of days back</em> and — hey, <em>the burden of being ridiculously amazing at action scenes that required them to be both called on set for the following weeks</em>. He likes the kid, and he thinks that Purpled likes him a bit too. The only beef between them is that the blond seems to be too judgemental of Sapnap’s occasional hobby of setting fire to anything that mildly angers him.</p><p>They can agree to disagree. Unlike Tommy, who’s a fucking child and probably does his assignments in crayon, they’re mature enough to do so. <br/><br/>“When is the wardrobe malfunction going to be over?” He yells at Dream and Wilbur, who are both speaking in hushed tones as they discussed the confrontation scene.</p><p>The blond looks up. Even though he had like... three light layers of clothing on, Sapnap’s a little jealous because he’s right next to a fan being provided and he didn’t actually need to do any kind of action yet, so he’s not sweating and hot the way the others are. <br/><br/>“A few minutes!” He shouts back. “We’re just waiting for Fundy.”</p><p>Fundy had joined them and walked around the set with a smug smile in every scene he appeared in. It was awfully suspicious, and according to the Breakroom Gossip Daily that Sapnap participated in, it turned out that he managed to go about his entire day with a slight wardrobe malfunction.</p><p>And that wardrobe malfunction was his tail getting ditched in favor of putting all two heavy layers of his clothing on. He considered it a massive victory until the costume department found out about a few hours too late in filming and forcefully intervened.</p><p>Say what you want about Fundy, but when the man carries a grudge... the dedication to it is insane. Sapnap respects him, because he can’t imagine <em>putting on a full and heavy ensemble of that Jotaro-inspired layer on top of a revolutionary layer</em> to be comfortable.</p><p>He hears laughter in the distance as the doors to the warehouse’s main filming spot open.</p><p>Eret and Tommy both trailed behind the furry in denial, presumably to bond over them making fun of his costume crisis. And judging by Fundy’s neutrally murderous stare and Tommy laughing up a storm, they’e both pretty successful.</p><p>Wilbur gives them a thumbs-up as he walks right up to the Camarvan. Purpled gets up first, and Sapnap follows after, both of their bodies tired after a week’s worth of action. He really wants to lay down and maybe hibernate for a few days. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road. Everybody, places.”</p><p>Everybody scrambles into place as Punz and Dream join them on the other side, waiting for their cue to enter as the L’manbergians get raised to the top of the Camarvan by a platform. </p><p>Motherfucker. Sapnap rolls his eyes. So <em>they</em> had to climb the borders when apparently the others could be raised through a platform. He bets Wilbur intentionally requested the platform to be prepared in advance for <em>this</em>. That motherfucker.</p><p>The lights dim in imitation of a dusk, and Wilbur begins reading the Declaration of Independance out loud.</p><hr/><p><strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 5: MY L'MANBERG, PT. 1</strong> <strong> (AFTER-SCENES)</strong></p><p>"Tubbo?"</p><p>It's only when he stops rambling that he notices that nobody is replying — <em>because nobody usually does when he starts talking, as they should always listen to him</em> — and nobody's following him anymore.</p><p>"Where are you, man?" Tommy tries, a bit more serious. "C'mon, Tubbo. This isn't funny."</p><p>The storm thunders in the distance.</p><p>He's cold, the rain is pelting bullets down on him and he slightly doesn't care because Tubbo is more prone to cold — had been complaining about it ever since it started raining— and now Tubbo's missing.</p><p>"Big T? <em>T-money?</em> Small T?"</p><p>His heart thunders in his chest and strains to hear a reply.</p><p>He hears glass bottles shatter in the distance, and he equips an iron axe in defense as he runs towards to sound, his shoes splattered with mud as the rain pushes against him.</p><p><em>Ping! </em>His chat log rings in a notification.</p><p>He crashes through the foliage, face scratched and wet as his sneakers step through the grass and dirt soaked through with water.</p><p>Lighting crashes.</p><p>
  <em>(In the distance, a silhouette with a hood flies off a branch, and silently lands on another tree.)</em>
</p><p>He finds only broken glass and bits of their potion ingredients, and a bunch of other things that his friend had on him.</p><p>His chat log pings again.</p><p>The chat log pops up and he sees <em>Tubbo was shot by Dream</em>, his blood running cold.</p><p>Oh— <em>fuck, no—</em></p><p>Someone drops him on top of him — with a grin and a white bandanna fluttering in the harsh rain — and suddenly, there is nothing.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>TommyInnit was burnt to a crisp whilst fighting Sapnap.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot</strong>
</p><p>YOOOO SUCK IT GREEN BOIIIIIIIIIIII</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[poorly taken picture of the L'manbergians in uniform (Wilbur, Tubbo, Tommy &amp; Eret) + another picture of the first page of the Declaration of Independance]</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>1.4K comments and 987 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>93.4K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p><strong>Dream✔️|@Dream </strong> <em>replied to Wilbur Soot's tweet</em></p><p>
  <em> <strong>[video of Dream's speech, with Tubbo's house in ruins behind him and Sapnap.]</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>[Transcript:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Tommy.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>And Wilbur.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>And the rest of L'man-child-berg:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We are at war.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>There is no mercy.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We have burnt down Tubbo's house,</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We have planted TNT canons around your land.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We have cobblestone walls outside, and we have shot one warning shot inside your walls as an explosion.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We have no mercy.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>No mercy for you.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Do you understand? We will come - we will burn your houses, we will everything inside your walls and we will take back the land that is rightfully ours - if you do not surrender.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>I want to see white flags - WHITE FLAGS - by your base tomorrow, at dawn—</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Or you are dead.]</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>2.9K comments and 1.3K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>108.9K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TubboLive|@Tubbo </strong> <em>replied to Dream's reply</em></p><p>Oh CMON MAN</p><p>
  <em>761 comments and 1K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>78K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to Dream's reply</em></p><p>Oh bring it on you green bitch</p><p>
  <em>924 comments and 982 retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>80.1K likes</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hot take but massive respect for fundy. mans is fully dedicated to the furry grudge and to wearing two fandom-inspired outfits on top of each other (hamilton n jojo’s bizarre adventures). he has my respect. </p><p>also imagine alyssa casually going on a looting spree after remembering that the button thing only works when there’s a green screen and they had to redo the entire improv-ed scene again. and nobody gets in her way because do you really want to get murdered by alyssa? </p><p>might take longer to write the next one. i hate research. research took me so fucking long to get done, jesus christ. wiki and google didn’t know when l’manberg officially started (it was july 24th) and so i browsed through tommy’s 2hr vods for the sake of fucking consistency. </p><p>a bit of non-canon interaction tho. ik tommy and tubbo started referencing it first but yknow there was this riverdale-esque interlude where tubbo, tommy and fundy perform hamilton and macbeth right? fundy HAS to know hamilton or my entire accuracy streak is ruined</p><p>“why not just write tommy to make shit easier izzy” well there was already too much emphasis on tommy in this chapter — i wanted to give other characters a chance to shine yknow? beside its fun to write tommy and fundy getting bullied on set &lt;3</p><p>continuity errors? wdym i see nothing wrong with sapnap carrying a torch in the middle of rain.</p><p>kudos, comments n bookmarks fuel me! if you’e enjoying what you see so far, please consider leaving one^^</p><p>edit: edited this chapter for clarity because the tommy n sapnap interaction felt ooc and rushed, so i extended the dialogue and included more purpled quips because :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. my l’manberg, pt. 2 (episode 6)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The peace lasts for three short days of anxious waiting and holding out for a fight — before they attack.</p><p>[Alternatively: <i>The Battle of Yorktown</i> plays in the background. Tubbo is tired. Tommy wants to start stabbing shit.]</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Y’ALL ARE INSANE. I’VE BEEN GONE FOR LIKE A MONTH AND I’M AT 277 KUDOS, 50 BOOKMARKS AND 3.2K HITS? ILY GUYS!! THANK YOU SO MUCH</p><p>loads of exposition bc... l’manberg arc. next ep is way more dramatic and possibly longer bc it’s the part that we all mostly remember (hint hint, eret betrayal, tommy duel and the discs thing). none of the shenanigans so far — i’ll continue the shenanigans somewhere around maybe episode 8-9. </p><p>man. i cant tell if i’m just dragging it on? technical movie stuff isn’t something i’m good at explaining at bc i don’t actually do it, i just research my shit oop. i hope nothing jumps out and away too much, i’m trying to just make the plot thing clearer. not much actual written scenes bc mostly these take place in the part where they’re filming the scene :((</p><p>might rewrite this whole thing later in the morning when i go over it. gnight and have fun yall</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <strong>OUTSIDE; TUBBO’S JUNGLE BASE </strong>
</p><p class="p1">Tubbo is tired, and by the fifth time he’s supposed to <em>respawn</em> in his bed — he collapses in it instead of getting up.</p><p class="p1">”Goddamnit,” he says to his pillow in the middle of his jungle base. Kind of a weird interior design — because like any other sane person, Tubbo thinks that only maniacs sleep in a bed without the headboard leaning against some wall. Maniacs that fear nothing in the dark.</p><p class="p1">Other than that slightly plot-excusable flaw in the interior design, the jungle base is gorgeous, and he loves it for being so spacious and organized, well-lit with torches up on intervals along the huge hall.</p><p class="p1">His other and considerably more important problem now is that it’s about to get destroyed. </p><p class="p1">Like his old base.</p><p class="p1">Again.</p><p class="p1">So maybe he’s unnecessarily stretching this scene out. Maybe he’s delaying the inevitable. And maybe he’s being dramatic — because the jungle base is <em>huge </em>and will likely only suffer from some small damages instead of being obliterated. Do you really blame him for it?</p><p class="p1">Like. Let Tubbo have one un-griefed and untouched base and let it be left in peace. He doesn’t even actively participate in on-set issues unless Tommy drags him into it - and he just goes along because he has to, according to the imaginary bro code that Tommy set in base. Either way — why is <em>his </em>base the one getting stomped on?</p><p class="p1">“Are you okay?” Dream hollers from the entrance of his jungle base with the other three people from the Greater Dream SMP faction as the cameras cut.</p><p class="p1">“...Can we take that again please?” Tubbo responds after a while. He lifts his head from the pillow. <em>His precious, precious newly-built Jungle Base. You will be sorely missed. </em>Tubbo almost salutes as he sits up.</p><p class="p1">He wishes he could shed fake tears the way Wilbur and Sapnap could, but he’s not <em>that </em>dramatic. Plus, he’s in the middle of a chase scene and shedding tears in the middle of it would not be pog when it shows up on camera. Dream nods, and the their group start to get back in position.</p><p class="p1">Wilbur raises a thumbs-up as the production team scrambles around for the next cutscene. These are only montages, anyways. He’s been at this thing for about a couple of hours as they go back and forth between using a harness on Tubbo for the building blocks, and for Tubbo seemingly <em>respawning</em> in his bed five times, and he sighs as he drops back down on the bed. It’s all tiring.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 6: MY L’MANBERG (PT. 2)</strong>
</p><p>“Take the L!” Tubbo snarks as he narrowly dodges an arrow, and feels like making fun of them some more. “You can’t get jack from me!”</p><p>The four grown-ass men in full netherite armor makes him want to sneer a bit more. He’s feeling a little bitter about all of them in fancy armor ganging up on little old him. </p><p>He gets shot by Sapnap. By this point, he’s unbothered as he respawns in his bed and he hops out. “That’s a shame,” he calls out, egging on the silent, simmering fury in the atmosphere. Tubbo might be timid and a go-with-the-flow kind of guy among friends — but he is undeniably done, and he is not a coward. “You’re all <em>clowns</em>. Absolute <em>clowns</em>.”</p><p>He <b></b>dodges another arrow and goes for his chests. As much as he’d like to keep the banter going, he is aware that he is alone, and he is a weak point.</p><p>He grabs all the splash potions of harming and dumps them in his inventory as an arrow hits him in the shoulder. </p><p>He winces as it vanishes in an instant and leaves a phantom pain of an arrow buried in his bone, but this is his one last gift to deliver for the other faction before he starts to alert the rest of L’Manberg. </p><p><em>Instant Damage II </em>is a bitch to endure, and he listens to the yelps of all four grown-ass men try to dodge his aim. One of his potions land on Dream’s feet and begin to temporarily weaken the netherite armor as the potion starts to work.</p><p>He runs out of them after a while, George sends an arrow that hits true as he dies. They storm his base as he respawns in front of them.</p><p>”What are you going to do now, Tubbo?” George asks dangerously as they surround him. There are sheens of sweat underneath all of their helmets as the potions’ aftereffects begin to affect them, but their aim holds steady as arrowheads glint in the torchlight.</p><p>Tubbo just grins, as happy as he can be, hands innocently behind his back. “Go on. Kill me,” he says. “Where am I gonna end up — tell me, <em>where am I gonna end up?</em>”</p><p>They give him an answer, and it is an answer in the form of Sapnap’s sword and cold blood.</p><p>They stay on guard, but Tubbo doesn’t respawn again.</p><p>Their chat log <em>pings</em> and Dream curses. They realize it too late.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Tubbo_was slain by Sapnap using a sword.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>You have no home bed or charged spawn anchor, or it was obstructed.</em>
</p><hr/><p>His feet land at the spawn point a thousand blocks away from his jungle base, his precious items stored safely in an ender chest. And he breathes.</p><p>This is a small victory — but it is a crucial victory, because it was the first conflict of the war, and it was the official declaration of war.</p><p>So Tubbo runs for L’Manberg, and he runs for his life.</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; L’MANBERG; A DAY LATER</strong>
</p><p class="p1">Ignoring the ugly cobblestone walls that makes Wilbur’s eyes hurt and are about a couple of meters away from the L’Manberg walls, he walks along the border proudly. Almost sniffling and shedding a tear or two — you get the idea.</p><p class="p1">“The wall was literally built around me,” Fundy says in astonishment as he stares up the newly-built walls of L’Manberg. Which Wilbur personally gets — because last week, it was just only about his height and now it’s taller and towers over the hto dog van. The set design department is <em>amazing, </em>and he could’ve literally not asked for such an amazing crew. </p><p class="p1">Wilbur smiles serenely on the outside, but like, mischievously on the inside. He’s wiping a tear away from his eye as he pops up next to him like a malicious fairy and goes to ruffle Fundy’s hair. “So you could say that you were <em>born </em>in L’manberg? Like... you’re our first citizen through birth?”</p><p class="p1">Fundy looks a little bit confused, but he rolls with it as he throws his arms in the air and good-naturedly shrugs. The bells of victory ring in his head as Wilbur waits to hear the words and the confirmation. “Exactly what I was thinking.”</p><p class="p1">His face settles neutrally, feeling like George Washington about to start adopting his aide-de-camp, as he puts his hand down on Fundy’s shoulder. Hook, line and sinker. “You’re my son now, Fundy.”</p><p class="p1">The man blue-screens as he gets what Wilbur wanted him to say and tries to back away, both figuratively and literally. As if Wilbur would let him. “Uh, that’s... not exactly what I was—“</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <strong>TWITTER: </strong>
</p><p class="p1">
  <strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot</strong>
</p><p class="p1">Look at my son </p><p class="p1">Pride is not the word I’m looking for</p><p class="p1">There is so much more inside me now :’)</p><p class="p1">
  <strong> <em>[picture of Fundy in the L’manboy costume]</em> </strong>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>2.4K comments and 1.8K retweets</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>131.9K likes</em>
</p><p class="p1"><b>Fundy |@FundyLive </b> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p class="p1"><b></b>you know what? we can talk about that after you give me back my jotaro costume</p><p class="p1">
  <em>1.6K comments and 1.3K retweets</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>89.1K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Dream✔️|@Dream</strong>
</p><p>Hmm</p><p>
  <em> <b>[picture of L’manberg from the top of the cobblestone walls]</b> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>1.9K comments and 1.7K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>126.5K likes</em>
</p><p><b>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot </b> <em>replied to Dream</em></p><p>do you like the view of our nation?</p><p>
  <em>1.6K comments and 1.5K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>94.3K likes</em>
</p><p><b>Dream✔️|@Dream </b> <em>replied to Wilbur Soot</em></p><p>I thought this was a trailer park</p><p>
  <em>1.5K comments and 1.2K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>89.9K likes</em>
</p><p><b>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </b> <em>replied to Dream</em></p><p>Hahaha very funny Dream</p><p>
  <em>1.1K comments and 1.7K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>57.3K likes</em>
</p><p><b>TommyInnit|@tommyinnit </b> <em>replied to Dream</em></p><p>Guns at Dawn bitch</p><p>
  <em>1.3K comments and 1.8K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>84.3K likes</em>
</p><p><b>Dream✔️|@Dream </b> <em>replied to Wilbur Soot</em></p><p>you’re on</p><p>
  <em>1.6K comments and 1.1K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>89K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; L’MANBERG EMBASSY </strong>
</p><p>Punz is <em>not</em> a killjoy.</p><p>Example one of why he’s <em>not </em>a killjoy: like any other unproblematic background character on the cast — he gets involved in some personal drama due to occasionally messing around on set.</p><p>You know, small things like pranking someone, stealing a couple of props or wrapping the entire Community House flooring with a crafting table-themed floor paper the way some nameless legend did in the span of a single night and nobody knew how or who did it.</p><p>Because that was a thing he could safely counter from anybody without any kind of heavy lore-involvement repercussions. </p><p>But then, it seems like Punz is one of the very, very few people who aren’t really big on the idea of blowing shit up, even with the right reasons.</p><p>He doesn’t actually mind the child so he feels a little sorry because this is the second time that Tommy’s land got messed with — according to the script.</p><p>He thinks the kid deserves it a bit — <em>as payback for the apple headshot that was definitely going to be immortalized on the bloopers reel — </em>but not something on this big of a scale.</p><p>He’s not really comfortable with this, but hey. He’s never gotten the chance to be the one taking credit for an bombing — all he does is tell directors on how to execute a fall and be the spotter for an actor’s cue. This is something new, and Punz is curious on how it’ll turn out on camera.</p><p>George, along with the rest of the tech crew, finish wiring the land around Tommy’s base. Pits covered in dirt hide the sand mortars — which contain the pyrotechnics — and the crew had been connecting cables to some rocks, blocks, heavier items and such to make sure they didn’t become flying debris and bonk someone to death on the spot.</p><p>Punz is going over the sequence with Wilbur and some of the stunt crew for a final time to smoothen any wrinkles in the plan, because they all need to get this right in one take.</p><p>Dream’s off with some of the set design to dig a small pit for them to use as cover during the explosion and to lead Tommy to the scene.</p><p>The director’s plan was to inform Tommy only about something about to happen, because Wilbur had continually asked for Tommy’s consent about this vaguely implied and not specified event to the extent that the blond yelled something along the lines of <em>y</em><em>eah, Wil, for fuck’s sake — do whatever you want to do to the land as long as you don’t fucking touch my base — geez, you’re such an arsehole.</em></p><p>So Wilbur, on the principle of being an asshole, found a loophole and instructed the explosion of Tommy’s land.</p><p>But y’know... <em>none of them</em> specified what was about to actually take place, so Tommy remained clueless on what was actually about to happen a few minutes before filming to get his genuine reaction.</p><p>George yells an <em>all good </em>as everybody on the production crew get ready. Wilbur directs them to their spot, and checks in with the camera crew via his headset and begins to alert Dream. With their luck, Tommy would get baited into following Dream and they’d be able to proceed.</p><p>“Three, two, one—” Wilbur calls out as the lighting dims and the cameras start rolling.</p><p>He and George start planting a couple sticks of fake dynamite tied together on top of the pits. They together efficiently and silently, tying knots and moving fast as the spotters behind the background begin to guide them on where they should be standing in preparation. His back pocket feels heavier with the flint and steel as he gets to his position.</p><p>The hooded man bounds the couple steps up the wooden path and jumps back as the teenager takes a shot at him with a bow, the camera swiftly turning to get their scene.</p><p>Tommy swiftly follows on scene on Dream’s heels, out of breath. All the L’manbergians stay a bit behind as scripted.</p><p>He looks around, waiting for them to group to him before he realizes — yeah, it’s a scene and there are incredibly suspicious mounds of dirt scattered on his property. He sees the sticks of fake dynamite as his eyes widen and he protests. “Wait — no!”</p><p>Dream looks at the teenager taking deep breaths and leaning on the outer wall of his power tower as he angrily stares back into the empty, soulless smiley-eyed mask. <br/><br/>“I told you what would happen if you didn’t surrender, Tommy.”</p><p>Punz breathes in and out lightly as he takes the items out of his pocket and holds them to the dynamite stick lying on top of the nearest pit of sand mortar. His palms are sweaty. He’s seen this happen before — safely and epically but. There’s always a chance of it backfiring and exploding in his face, but he trusts the tech crew to know their cue.</p><p><em>Viva la anarchy, motherfucker, </em>Punz thinks as his flint and steel produce a spark. This spark is for show, anyways. It’s not going to actually trigger the pyrotechnics.</p><p>It catches on the dynamite’s string—</p><p>But he and George are already running as Tommy shouts in anger and the rest of the L’manbergians follow and panic, his voice sounding far away and the sound drowning in the rush of blood in his ears. He can’t hear anything but his heart racing as he mentally counts in his head.</p><p>Dream yanks at his sleeve and all three of them slide down the small trench dug out for them as they cover their ears and—</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>STUDIO</strong>
</p><p>Philza loves his job as an actor and an aspiring producer.</p><p>It’s a challenging industry who had ridiculously high standards — but he personally wrestled with the standards, pinned it down under him and made it out like a champ. And get this — he’s still going and he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. It’s a thing that he’s proud of.</p><p>Following the success of his first produced film with a supporting role in SMPEarth, this is his first time producing on a web-show and he’s on shaky ground due to the difference of producing a show with weekly episodes and a month three direct shoot.</p><p>But it’s all fine. They’re all adjusting to it, with Dream and Wilbur being an interesting duo as they come up with new ideas. The fun thing was that everybody got a say because they listened — and they were respectful about it. </p><p>The general consensus by the entire production crew was that it was a pretty fun time on set, if not a little tiring due to trying to keep up with personal drama getting pasted and tied down hastily to the official lore. That’s mostly what they say is their problem, which is <em>fair.</em></p><p>But his problems on set do tend to suck though. Whether it’s from something as small as <em>supervising a ridiculous scene on set, or a prank gone wrong or schedules from various actors clashing with the film times</em> — he knows these, and it’s not that huge of a problem.</p><p>No worries. Those problems from the start were easily preventable. <em>Get in touch with Jschlatt and let him know your schedule, inform any other people of your surprise scene in advance and always — always have at least one medic on standby.</em></p><p>
  <span class="s1">But sometimes, his problems are a little less preventable and a little more inevitable.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For instance, he just arrived from a business deal all across town and hurried to the studio, <em>remembering that Wilbur authorized Sapnap going on an arson spree AND a bomb going off in the same episode</em> — and yeah, Phil needed to be there to supervise. <br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"><em>For plot </em>was the director’s excuse. And the worse thing is, it’s inevitable because <em>he </em>was informed of where the plot went, and he helped shaped that part of the plot — but nobody specifically told him where.<br/><br/>He knows it’s the L’manberg Embassy but what he didn’t know that it was Tommy’s base — and while the plot of land could easily be refilled in, it’s still a pain in the ass authorizing an order for... several hundred pounds of dirt to be transported.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He knows it’s all going to be safely handled — Wil had contacted the special effects expert and got advised by the stunt crew with experiences in pyrotechnics. Mo movie or show is worth losing a life, y’know.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still. He feels like choking someone to death with his bare hands. Because why the fuck would they mess with Tommy’s base? Now he’s got to get there to do some damage control before Tommy starts raging again.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But he has a reputation to maintain and he’s sensible. He’s not about to choke someone to death even though the person fucking deserved it.</span>
</p><p class="p1">Philza bursts out of the hallway of the studio, and skids to a stop. <em>Why is section 5A empty? </em></p><p class="p1">
  <em>...Oh, for fuck’s sake, you’ve got to be kidding me— </em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A huge <strong>BOOM! </strong>echoes and resonates throughout the land behind him.<br/><br/>Wrong direction.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Philza pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he walks back in, now intent on at least trying to catch Tommy before the teen started stabbing shit as Callahan passes him, running down the hallway to the production team by a frantic assistant.</span>
</p><p class="p1">He’s just disappointed — a little in himself and mostly on the directors for not telling him about the hellhole about to happen because—</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>Deadass?</em></span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OUTDOOR SET; FAR AWAY ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>BOOM!</strong>
</p><p>The set is silent for a few minutes as the crew processes it. Callahan claps his hands a fee times in the air after, and the production team starts at it again.</p><p>It’s a small crew they have today but it doesn’t matter much — Wilbur authorized committing arson in a very controlled area. They don’t exactly have a director on stand by since both were at the other side of the outdoor set doing their own thing, but Callahan’s around to supervise him, and that’s fair enough — because the forest burning was basically just a short scene for the plot montage to be inserted in Dream’s Twitter monologue or something. <br/><br/>He doesn’t really get to burn down an entire forest — fires and all the pyrotechnics with the scene happen on a really small scale, and if possible, it happens on miniaturized sets so that they don’t have to include an actual actor to get at risk with the fire. Safety reasons and all that. That’s the reason he’s in an enclosed area with neon green green-screens surrounding him with a few trees. </p><p>And also — maybe because the prop dep and set design dep were getting sick of having to replace the trees he’s burned down last episode, and were getting tired of his. </p><p>It’s all fine. He’s going to have fun just as everybody on the other side is having fun.</p><p>Amd that’s what Sapnap tries to sadly convince himself as the smoke in the distance mocks him.</p><p>The few trees scattered about the small space he is in have been doused with oil to make the fire spread faster and overly look more intimidating. Sapnap gets handed an electrical torch as the camera dangles in the air to get a view of the forest before he sets it on fire.</p><p>The lights behind him start to dim and the underground lighting glows a soft orange. He gets his shit together as the torch slowly burns, generated remotely by the special effects team a safe distance away. He slowly starts to smile as the camera pans to him — and he lets the torch touch the wood.</p><hr/><p>He can’t help it, y’know. In comparison to many others on the cast — he <em>is</em> sane.</p><p><em>The fire just... looks so beautiful, man </em>is what he absentmindedly says after the shoot, and he just couldn’t help but smile. Maybe he would’ve shed a tear if the scene called for it. Man. </p><p>(<em>Everybody behind his back looks over the footage to see Sapnap grinning like a maniac, face half-illuminated by the flames and half-hidden by the shadows — and they collectively agree that a retake is not worth it.</em>)</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <strong>OUTDOOR SET; L’MANBERG’S WALLS</strong> </span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">It is the day for more war, and by God, Tommy is ready to start Stabbing Shit</span> <span class="s2">™️. </span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s rightfully pissed off, alright? Nobody denies him that. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dream, his back-up dancers and Wilbur are only safe due to Philza’s convenient intervention by becoming his impulse control the moment the producer conveniently arrived. </span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Why is </span> <span class="s3">their</span> <span class="s1"> issue with </span> <span class="s3">him</span> <span class="s1"> anyways? He is a fucking delight to be around. Why are people still insisting on targeting him?</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So he’s back here after getting dragged to the studio about three days later, seething as he waits for the Tubbo voiceover for their collective cue while Wilbur — the bitch who authorized the bombing of his rightful land — hums and goes over the script. Tommy wants to strangle him. It has been three days since the bombing, and his base’s ground has been filled in — but does he care? Hell the fuck no. <br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s been sulking about it, and so what? Wilbur just took his trust and said <em>fuck it </em>and also took a flamethrower into it just because he can.<em> For plot</em> is what the director wails, but TommyInnit is smarter and he knows better.<br/></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It’s just because Wilbur is an asshole.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So, through the walls with the fifth battalion,” Tubbo fills in the tense silence as Tommy burns holes into the side of Wilbur’s head. Yes, Tommy is the general and he named this damn fine army himself, but he is still pissed. He’s not gonna talk to any of these traitors if he doesn’t have to. “And to Punz’ tower to start shooting at them before they leave?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yep,” Wilbur pops the p as he sets his clipboard aside, and calls for the production team. He is so incredibly annoying today. Tommy really wants to snap his neck. “Basically, they run out of things to fire at us and start to retreat. We push it to our advantage and start firing on them on top of the tower — and Tommy’s going to lead us there.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">The lights dim and they crouch by the wooden path as someone passes Tommy a pickaxe for the imaginary blocks he needed to break down. </p><p class="p1">“Alright, places!” Phil calls, agreeing to play director to help the two other director/actors/heartless bastards. “Ready? Lights!”</p><p class="p1">The light dim, and the camera man beside them hooks his camera to a contraption to get a higher shot.</p><p class="p1">He begins hacking at the walls as the camera pans beside them, and he starts talking about following his lead with as much assertiveness as he can without the bitterness leaking into his voice.</p><p class="p1">Tommy’s still arguably less pissed off now that it’s been a literal three days, but he’s a professional and he can set this betrayal aside.</p><p class="p1">Just for now.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p class="p2">
  <strong>Dream SMP ✔️|@dsmpofficial</strong>
</p><p class="p2">We apologize for the delay in episode release. We have a lot of things planned for this arc, and we apologize for the inconvenience. But! Since we’ve been hyping this up — have an episode trailer for this arc from <span class="u">@SAD_istfied</span> herself: <span class="u"><strong>[Dream SMP War] | Trailer</strong></span></p><p class="p2">
  <em>5.7K comments and 6.3K retweets</em>
</p><p class="p2">
  <em>178.4K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p class="p3">
  <strong>Dream✔️|@Dream</strong>
</p><p class="p3">Regarding the whole late episode thing: We’re sorry. It’s been delayed for a couple of days due to filming. Don’t worry, the regular upload schedule will be back without anymore delay. You can expect episode five to drop somewhere around a couple of hours! I hope you guys enjoy it :)</p><p class="p3">
  <em>3.4K comments and 2.7K retweets</em>
</p><p class="p3">
  <em>133.8K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>You guys better enjoy it because I sure didnt</p><p>
  <em>2.8K comments and 2.1K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>86.3K likes</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> OUTDOOR SET; NEAR L’MANBERG; LATE AT NIGHT</strong>
</p><p>Fundy is not exactly as active on the set like the other cast members do, so the tales of his troublemaking is just limited to his scuffle with the costume department and the occasional “furry” call-out. Normally, if he was planning to grief a base, he could do by himself.</p><p>But this is Dream he’s talking about, and so he brings in another player: Eret.</p><p>Fundy and Eret might have had their differences — but they’re ultimately best friends, and Fundy is grateful for the chill vibes and fun he brings during his time on set (when he’s not being made fun of.)</p><p>But here’ the thing most people <em>don’t</em> know — Eret is a clever, clever bastard, and so is <em>he.</em></p><p>He is more elusive than Fundy actually is, which is saying a lot since he is the one person on set that knows how Eret is personally responsible for a whole lot of griefing and prop replacement that happened on set — <em>including the famous crafting table-flooring for the Community House, and nobody still knows who the hell did it, except for Fundy, because Eret asked him to get him the crafting table-flooring paper for it. </em>And he still has no black mark on his record, and he gets a stamp of to approval from every department despite all the things he did.</p><p>Fundy thinks it’s a little unfair - but Eret is now crucial to this plan and he’s being cool during this whole bit, without questioning anything yet.</p><p>Which is why they’re secretly in Dream’s base, bringing shovels and a few little useful gadgets that Fundy himself bought, rigged and pieced together, all for the sake of getting the bitch back.</p><p>”How are things doing down there,” He yells at the brunette, who is nonchalantly still digging a pit in the middle of Dream’s base while humming.</p><p>Fundy is just wiring a trap. Non-lethal and harmless, of course — but still ultimately one of his best plans yet.</p><p>”I’m just about to... no, yeah, I’m done,” Eret responds as he wipes his gloved hands together and climbs out of the pit he dug, carrying the shovel along with him. “Is the trap ready?”</p><p>Fundy doesn’t respond; he just kneels down and begins to hook it up.</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Eret’s eyes sparkle in mischief as Fundy begins to set down his <em>magnus opus</em> — a beautiful, beauitful contraption — and instructs him on how to secure it above the pit. They work fast and efficient — and man, Fundy loves his friend.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He internally practices his evil villain laugh as they stare back at their masterpiece in awe. <em>Get a hold of this, bitch.</em></span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if you’re wondering why i switch between calling tommy’s base and l’manberg embassy, because it’s a pre-l’manberg independence thing. </p><p>yeah, yeah — dream blew it up, but i want more background characters, so punz takes the credit for this. also pointing out other stuff i’ve changed:<br/>- in the actual thing, they use tnt cannons to blow tommy’s base up.<br/>- i’ve skipped over “the battle of the power tower” in this because i was getting my shit mixed up, sorry. the thing where tommy gets pissed bc of the bombing is called “the battle of the embassy”<br/>- why did i include sapnap’s bit in? well... sad-ist is canon in this universe. why? cause i said so. and so will other artists/writers later on :&gt;<br/>- i condense the jungle base tubbo bit into one smooth thing </p><p>sorry, my writing isn’t the best at the moment. i have the next episodes written out — expect episode seven the day after tomorrow or the next week :&gt;</p><p>if you enjoy what you see so far, please consider leaving a kudos/comment/bookmark. i’d love to see what you guys think! </p><p>if you wanted more dsmp!actors content, check out the next work in the series. finished &amp; written for christmas with a lot of shenanigans that don’t heavily involve plot surrounding episodes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. my l’manberg, pt. 3 (episode 7)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some call it the Great War of the Dream SMP. Others called it Doomsday. Whatever the case is — Wilbur is calling it the <i>moment he fucked up by letting the producers let Dream direct the last episode of this arc.</i></p><p>[in which the author can finally update the fucking tags let’s goooo]<br/>[update the morning after: no she can fucking not yet apparently this sucks (head in hands)]</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>THANK YOU FOR 330+ KUDOS AND 4.8K HITS. YOU GUYS ARE INSANE. THIS TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH. NEW TWITTER ACC AT @n_owsyy BECAUSE I GOT LOCKED OUT OF MAIN. </p><p>feel free to spam me there for motivation. i can’t keep making these promises i can’t keep. </p><p>took me long enough that season two fucking ended. so here’s a couple of things i want to say:<br/>1. my upload schedule after this will be more consistent instead of random — but i will miss some update times.<br/>2. i go through old chapters and rewrite tons of shit. i make paragraphs easier to read and i add other things, so have fun re-reading through everything again :)<br/>3. instead of forcing myself to suffer burnout by trying to meet a 4k word limit (yes i said i had a 3k word goal, but i apparently upped that ever since the l’manberg arc), i will force myself to stick to a 3.5k limit. special events will be longer and will likely reach 4k, but for the most part i will try to make all of this concise.<br/>4. rewrote some other things for thematic purposes. not everything is accurate.<br/>5. i will not release chapters immediately. i’m planning to write three other fics for february, which one is a thing i am waiting to write for feb 14 but i just have no inspo yet [head in hands]</p><p>sorry for taking a month to write this! i had school + i was so frustrated with my writing that i scrapped 5k words and rewrote this literally three times from scratch because i hated how some scenes felt so cardboard-stiff to me. </p><p>i tried my best, but i think it’s still shit. will rewrite most of it in the morning to see if i should remove some scenes and rewrite the cringe shenanigans. god i’m sorry for the drop in quality, i swear to god i can do better than this</p><p>edit: will rewrite this chap and last chap tomorrow. good night yall i am so tired</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Tubbo |@TubboLive</strong>
</p><p>Your aims ARENT EVEN THAT FUCKING GOOD</p><p>
  <em> <strong>[A blurry video as the camera looks down Punz’s power tower to zoom in on arrows veering off-target as Tommy cackles off-screen, and Eret chuckles. Fundy says something about returning fire and Tubbo whoops as he hits a shot.]</strong></em>
</p><p>
  <em>1.3K comments, 2.1K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>79K likes</em>
</p><p><strong>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit </strong> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>YEAHHHH YOU GUYS FUCKING SUCK KEEP RUNNING BITCHES</p><p><b>Sapnap✔️|@Sapnap </b> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>that makes no sense tubbo. also none of you even hit us back</p><p><b>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit </b> <em>replied to Sapnap </em></p><p>Oh hey Sapnap. Whats that I hear?</p><p><b>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit </b> <em>replied to Sapnap and TommyInnit</em></p><p>Yeah thats right it’s the fucking wambulance. Take those tears somewhere else bitch</p><p><b>Sapnap✔️|@Sapnap</b> <em>replied to TommyInnit </em></p><p>😐😑😐</p><hr/><p><b>PM</b> <b></b></p><p><b>Dre: </b>eret</p><p><b>chill out: </b>yes</p><p><b>Dre</b>: i need to talk to you</p><p><b>chill out</b>: okay?</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: then why are you just texting me</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: because i can’t talk to you </p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: you’re a couple meters away?</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: yes, but i need to be discreet</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: you are not being discreet</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: i can see you furiously typing and hunched over your phone this is not discreet</p><hr/><p><strong>chill out</strong>: okay it’s been five minutes i’m starting to get worried</p><p><b>Dre: </b>sorry</p><p><b>Dre</b>: i have a preposition for the next scene</p><p>
  <b>chill out:</b>
</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: five minutes for that?</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: and dont we already have a script for the next scene</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: you’re technically right but not really</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: what does that mean</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: wilbur gave me creative freedom for this specific part of the arc</p><p><b>Dre</b>: and before you ask, yes. he told me he explicitly trusted me</p><p><b>chill out</b>: that was a bad idea</p><p><b>Dre</b>: i am going to ignore that</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: anyways there’s a reason why the script is short — AND vague in addressing who actually speaks and what happens and that’s why i’m texting you. in secret</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>:</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: is that the reason why i got left out on purpose in that scene</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: you’re texting me in secret just to let me know i got left out on purpose?</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: what</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: dude</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: wait eret no im sorry i know it sounds bad but</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: it’s because i have a different script only for you to secretly follow</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: i just need your willing cooperation</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: that sounds vaguely threatening</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: why me though?</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: the wheel said so</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: the wheel...?</p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: <em>[picture of the wheel in wilbur’s office, with the wheel picking out eret’s name]</em></p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: </p><p><strong>Dre</strong>: eret eret i’m sorry i don’t mean it that way i’m sorry you’re an amazing actor and a great model, i’m sorry, i just picked a random name because wilbur requested some war-relevant drama and i couldn’t decide which one is pulling the thing i’m planning he’s also anticipating the suspense i’m sorry </p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: i’m thinking about it</p><p><b>chill out</b>: i don’t get a say in this, do i</p><p><b>Dre</b>: :(</p><p><b>chill out</b>: do i at least get anything in return</p><p><b>Dre</b>: :)</p><p><b>Dre</b>: i’m glad you asked. you can meet me in callahan’s office for the script and for this secret preposition of mine</p><p><b>chill out</b>: </p><p><b>chill out</b>: you are. eighteen. fucking. feet. away</p><p><strong>chill out</strong>: i. have. my fucking eye lenses in</p><p><b>Dre</b>: alright alright i’m coming over to escort you </p><p><b>Dre</b>: please stop glaring at me people are getting suspicious</p><p><b>chill out</b>: you have no room to talk</p><p><b>chill out</b>: you’re blank-faced and stomping over to me in full costume and i can practically hear some of the crew members thinking we have beef between us</p><p><b>Dre</b>: how can you tell that?</p><p><b>chill out</b>: my eyesight sucks but you are ten feet away from me</p><p><b>Dre</b>: ?</p><p><b>chill out</b>: i am not fucking blind</p><p><b>Dre</b>: do i really look that menacing to people</p><p><b>chill out</b>: everything about this is the opposite of discreet and this is paining me</p><p><strong>chill out:</strong> i’m just gonna stand up and go</p><p><b>Dre</b>: but your eye lenses......?</p><p><b>chill out</b>: fuck the eye lenses</p><p><b>Dre</b>: i wanna say that costume dep would have your head for ripping them out like that</p><p><b>Dre</b>: but i’m pretty sure they would be impressed that you didnt even blink an eye at it</p><hr/><p>
  <b>IN FRONT OF CALLAHAN’S OFFICE; 15 MINUTES LATER</b>
</p><p>“Dream,” Eret says, and pinches the bridge of his nose in disappointment.</p><p>In front of him is Dream, blank-faced. Eret doesn’t know why the hallway in front of Callahan’s office is dimly lit - complete with the flickering lights and the 1940s Chicago mafia vibe - because this is unnecessarily dramatic and he is <em>sick </em>of dealing with his employers’ bullshit.</p><p>”Eret,” he says back evenly, and Eret feels his eye twitch.</p><p>Today is just one of those times. He’s not feeling any <em>chill </em>right now, despite his reputation as the <em>chill vibes, deep voice</em> guy. He feels violent for no reason - the repercussions of hanging around one TommyInnit too much - but even now, he feels like shoving his heeled boots into a specific director’s abdomen would be justifiable. </p><p>Considering the situation.</p><p>He taps his foot on the floor, indirectly reminding Dream that he <em>is </em>wearing heels, and he is distinctively taller than the blond man. He shouldn’t be afraid — <em>Eret’s not mad, just disappointed</em> — but that bead of sweat trickling down the director’s temple kind of satisfies him, so he doesn’t bother reassuring him.</p><p>Dream breaks, and he steps back from Eret’s gaze of complete disappointment. “Okay, <em>look</em>,” he amends. “I’m really sorry.”</p><p>“I have no idea how you’re going to wiggle your way out of this situation, Dream.”</p><p>”Yeah — but the scene has been pretty much in the works before it got approved,” Dream hurriedly says as he backs out of sufficient kicking range, holding his arms up in a sign of surrender. “The only reasons why the producers aren’t informed are because Callahan doesn’t really check emails and Phil has me on spam. So.”</p><p>”What the fuck, dude,” Eret groans and he brings his hands up to his face, refusing the urge to drag it down. “Was that why Niki and Alyssa refused to look me in the eye during make-up earlier? Because they knew about my season two Zuko bastardization arc before <em>I</em> did?”</p><p>”Look, I’m really sorry, Eret,” Dream winces. “You know how Wilbur gets when it comes to drama.”</p><p>”I don’t think you know how much it pains me to ruin my reputation and my relationship with L’Manberg over your <em>bullshit</em>,” he darkly mumbles as he grudgingly takes the script from Dream.</p><p>The director does take it without flinching, which Eret gives him credit for — but he’s <em>on thin fucking ice. </em><br/><br/><em>You owe me so much</em> is all Eret can say at the moment as he gives in to his eventual fate. Better this than getting his dignity dragged down the halls.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <b>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit</b>
</p><p>Fundy it doesnt really feel like you’re pulling your weight here</p><p>
  <em>2.1K comments and 1.7K retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>86.7K likes</em>
</p><p><b>Fundy |@FundyLive </b> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>I don’t like what this is implying. What do you mean I’m not pulling my weight</p><p><b>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit </b> <em>replied to Fundy</em></p><p>I mean... yeah, yeah. But you’re running around on set with only the Diamond leggings on</p><p>
  <b> <em>[blurry picture of Fundy in his entire ensemble + the furry ears &amp; tail — but he’s only wearing the diamond leggings and boots]</em> </b>
</p><p><b>Fundy |@FundyLive </b> <em>replied to TommyInnit</em></p><p>Shut up.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>BREAK; PUNZ’S POWER TOWER</b>
</p><p>“Wait,” Tommy squints at him suspiciously. “Why the fuck are you up here?”</p><p>Wilbur innocently peers around the very empty wooden platform on the top of Punz’s tower, before gesturing to himself. “Were you talking to me?”</p><p>Tommy rolls his eyes as Tubbo’s head pops up out of the trapdoor.  “Who else would I be talking to, dipshit?” He dryly replies as he helps Tubbo out.</p><p>The director raises an eye, and huddles deeper into his coat as he shuts the trapdoor down. It’s chilly up here in the late afternoon, and he can’t really tell if it’s still approaching dusk or if it’s already dusk. “Is there something wrong with my presence up here, TommyInnit?”</p><p>”Kind of,” Tubbo says, and shifts in his revolutionary outfit, adjusting the caravat hanging from his neck, with an earpiece in his ear. He breaks off a little from tehm to talk again into his earpiece, leaving the two alone to speak.</p><p>They’re on a mandatory break before the next scene. Something about an emergency set design decision made by the executives — excluding him.</p><p>He did try to find out what the hell was going on through Sapnap — who was apparently paid more than enough to keep his mouth shut from telling even Wilbur, which is sad. Wilbur is Sapnap’s gossip buddy, and the Texan refuses to help his own bro out and that is putting him in a bad mood.</p><p>He’s got dismissed enough times from conversations that he just took the hint and decided to get up the tower for some alone time, only to be faced by a rarely peaceful gremlin.</p><p>He tried to keep track of everybody first. Eret is missing in action — Wilbur doesn’t really know where. Probably the make-up room or in the prop dep’s storage? Fundy is also somewhere on the ground with the rest of the technical team. From the looks of it, he’s going over the mechanics of the emergency set design thing that apparently required some wirework to check. All the while wrestling his netherite armor on. Tubbo’s up here for some technical thing — and he doesn’t have to account for Tommy now.</p><p>The Greater Dream SMP faction? Well, they can all <em>fuck off.</em> All in the sake of their current canon dynamics, of course.</p><p>“So,” Tommy breaks the silence. “Why aren’t you on the ground doing director things with Fundy?”</p><p>He tries not to let his bitterness shine through, so he just shrugs. “Phil wrestled this arc’s writing away from me and let Dream handle this part. Don’t worry — it’s just the final part of the independence arc,” Wilbur reassures him as he leans out the tower and brings out his phone.</p><p>Dream doesn’t have Wilbur’s complete faith, but he’s <em>his </em>co-director and that means trusting the process of Dream’s creative process. He’s never once doubted Dream’s ability to turn his vision into reality — so he’ll just have to settle with finding out how the next scene will unfold according to his direction.</p><p>There’s not much that Dream can mess up other than altering things on the spot. Wilbur gets it — he does that too tons of times. The only difference is that Dream gets easily frustrated with things that don’t turn out as exactly planned and immediately cuts the cameras, while Wilbur just lets it play out and decides later if they can keep that part in. </p><p>That’s not much of a flaw or a <em>mess-up, </em>but that’s the only thing that Wilbur can think of. It’s just really <em>sus </em>that the script was pretty vague and mostly open-ended to allow room for different kinds of interpretation, but if Philza and Callahan corrected it and Dream let it be — then it’s probably alright.</p><p>“Dream directing his character’s rival faction’s arc isn’t the reassuring sentiment you think it is, Wilbur,” Tubbo winces after that internal monologue as he shares a look with Tommy, who frowns at the director. Who’s currently going through his phone. “I mean — we’ve all seen the script, but it’s pretty damn <em>vague</em> so. Are we really going in blind?”</p><p>”Yeah,” Wilbur says non-chalantly, telling himself that <em>he</em> didn’t want to go in blind but he had <em>no</em> choice in the matter. “Not our first time either, and plus. The producers also went over it. Dream just can’t insert his biases even if he wanted to.”</p><p>“You’re acting weirdly calm about this,” Tommy decides as he leans against one of the wooden blocks. “Could you at least reassure me that we’re still getting independence?”</p><p>”Stop worrying, Tommy. I’m pretty sure Philza also wrestled with Dream to keep our independence canon in the script — and even if he found a loophole, I can always revoke it and demand retakes,” Wilbur waves away his concern, feeling a little more confident in Philza Minecraft and Callahan’s abilities to stop any of Dream’s rewrites as he browses through his Notes app and starts writing down a rough idea for the next arc.</p><p>Tommy just looks at him in utter disappointment like Wilbur did something unforgivable to him and Wilbur cannot think for the life of him why he would be <em>this</em> upset about this. It’s not even in <em>his </em>hands in the first place, Philza wrestled his directing rights away from him for a little while — so it’s not like he can do anything about it.</p><p>Well, he technically he could do something about it. Not part of his point, though.</p><p>Tommy breaks the silence again by opening the trapdoor, shivering a little in his revolutionary costume. “I hope you know that Dream is going to fuck shit up,” he lets the director know with a disgruntled frown as he starts to climb down.</p><p>Wilbur kind of agrees, but he knows that none of the creative board will let him down — so he politely disagrees with the sentiment and waves them off as he starts thinking of other plot lines to fill the story in before the next major season arc. He has all the confidence in Dream’s story-telling — and more importantly, in the producers’ capabilities.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>DURING FILMING; THE FINAL CONTROL ROOM</b>
</p><p>“Down with the revolution, boys,” Eret’s deep voice says with a kind of authority that demanded silence from everybody else in the room. Everybody, whether on the floor pretending to be dead or not, listens attentively. “It was never meant to be.”</p><p>Somewhere, the producer currently supervising their scene signals the cut-off and for a moment, all actors inside the small room covered in green screen stay in silence.</p><p>Callahan gives them the okay, and Tommy swears.</p><p>Tommy swears a jumbled mess of words, cussing multiple people out and stuttering in rage. It’s all mostly directed at Eret, but also Dream and <em>Wilbur. Why him?</em></p><p>Wilbur barely hears the rest of his rant, though. There’s not much he can hear from the pounding symphony in his head. There’s the <em>trust issues </em>acting up<em>; </em>a wide-eyed appreciation for that plot twist; a drama queen somewhere in him that pouts and whines about <em>why didn’t I think of that first; </em>and of course — a repetition of <em>what the fuck </em>in his head.</p><p>”What the fuck,” Wilbur mumbles against the ground, refusing to get up in defeat. Dream stifles a laugh somewhere. “What the fuck.”</p><p>Somewhere on the floor with him is TommyInnit giving him the stink-eye, like the child he is. There’s also somebody by his feet and he’s pretty sure that it’s an unresponsive Fundy. <br/><br/>He nudges the man’s arm with the toe of his boot and all he can hear after a few seconds is a low-pitched whine and Wilbur understands that Fundy is just simply in shock. Wilbur just can’t tell if his brain broke or if all the emotions just drained out of him. Maybe it’s both.</p><p>Punz is somewhere in the corner of the room, trying to blend in the shadows with his white hoodie. If Wilbur cranes his neck just right, he can see the man stand there like a statue, with a phone in his hands and slightly snickering. He knows that Punz is taking pictures of the L’Manbergians lying on the floor in a moment of weakness, <em>and how </em>fucking<em> dare he make fun of them and use it to gain clout in said moment of weakness?</em></p><p>Wilbur flips him off, and Punz’s smile grows bigger. </p><p>“<em>Eret</em>...” Tubbo croaks out, dragging out the traitor’s name like a child who lost all and any will to live. A child devoid of hope and utterly betrayed. “<em>I farmed... with you... for hours... does any of our shared victory-carrot farming mean nothing to you?</em>”</p><p>Speaking of the devil, who’s standing beside one of the mechanical doors also covered in neon green, Wilbur wonders why nobody saw how obvious those doors were. Probably because that neon green-screen practically blinded their eyes and they avoided looking at it, so he really can’t fault anyone for it.</p><p>Credit is due where it should be though — Eret sounds apologetic. Not apologetic enough, because Wilbur personally takes that betrayal to heart despite the stellar acting that made him want to applaud the man himself. “All Dream’s fault, I’m afraid,” he says. “I didn’t even know this was going to happen up to a hour and a half ago until he bribed me.”</p><p>“<em>What did he even bribe you with,</em>” Fundy mumbles just loud enough to be heard, still lying face-down on the floor.</p><p>”I get to hunt him down as part of the blooper reel — with both of us in heels. Also, I’m king of the SMP now.”</p><p>Tommy shoots up on his feet as he makes strangling gestures at the other director. Tubbo — <em>God bless Tubbo</em> — wordlessly gets up to tackle Tommy’s legs, pinning the blond to the ground.</p><p>Sapnap and George in the corner sigh as Dream’s demeanor cracks and he starts to cackle in the gremlin’s face. “<em>What the hell</em>,” the teen yells as Dream’s lungs almost collapse from his wheezing fit and <em>why are they all subjected to this kind of torture.</em> Fundy and Eret both cover their ears with their hands. Wilbur starts to curl up in a ball, lying side-ways, opting to just silently listen to the commotion. “Come on! Since when did we have a <em>fucking monarchy</em> on the goddamn SMP?”</p><p>The two best friends are close enough now to take damage control, but Dream speed-runs Tommy’s patience in that small five-second gap. “Because I said so,” he says smugly.</p><p>Sapnap stuffs a hankerchief from out of nowhere into Dream’s mouth as Tommy tries to kick Tubbo off and claw his way towards the blond. “Let me at him — <em>let me at that fucking bitch</em>,” Tommy shouts as Dream gags on the clothing, but George hooks his elbow over the Floridian’s arm. Sapnap does the same as Dream spits it out, his lungs simply deflating like a fucking balloon and they drag him out of the cave.</p><p>On Tommy’s feet, Tubbo grumbles something as he shifts around. “This is all <em>Wilbur’s </em>fault,” he drones out, still devoid of life, maybe unaware of the wrath that Wilbur is going to face. “You let them do this to us...”</p><p>Tommy’s head whips towards him, finding a convenient target to express his immense rage on. <em>Why, Tubbo?</em> The director mentally yells. Wilbur <em>isn’t </em>scared of the child — but he rolls away from Tommy’s biting range anyway.</p><p>”Fuck you,” Wilbur snaps in return without any of the bite as he bumps into Fundy’s lifeless body and awkwardly tries to manuvuer away. “I just said that <em>I </em>literally had no choice in this. Besides — they literally <em>can’t</em> do anything worse than this.”</p><p>Tommy doesn’t listen to that reasonable explanation and Tubbo rolls off the gremlin’s legs. Now, they suddenly both remember that <em>standing up </em>is an actual thing.</p><p>Everybody present in the room gives him no sympathy. Fundy mumbles something, but he’s lying face-down on the floor and Wilbur can’t understand any of it. Punz is <em>still </em>recording, pointing and silently laughing at Wilbur. Tubbo is still a limp body flopping on the ground, and Eret slightly backs off with arms slightly raised.</p><p>“You<em> bitch,” </em>Tommy thunders.</p><p>Wilbur <em>fucking</em> skedaddles.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Punz |@Punztw</strong>
</p><p>Came To Work For This 2: Electric Boogaloo </p><p>
  <em> <strong>[Recording of a dimly lit place, TommyInnit yells at the director and Wilbur fucking bolts. Punz follows them and there’s shaky footage until Punz arrives at the L’Manberg set and the camera zooms on Wilbur panicking at the top of the hto dog van while TommyInnit gets dragged away from the van by Phil and other production crew members.]</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>1.4K comments and 1.3k retweets</em>
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  <em>68.1K likes</em>
</p><p>
  <em><strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot </strong>replied to your tweet</em>
</p><p>nothing about this was funny, punz</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON 1, EPISODE 7: MY L’MANBERG (PT. 3)</strong>
</p><p>They respawn back in the Camarvan, but Tommy hears nothing above the rushing of blood in his ears.</p><p>He’s the last one to respawn in their base of operations. When he gets out of the bed and kicks off the covers, he scowls with a viciousness he has never felt before.</p><p>He knocks shoulders with Wilbur, who’s dazed and dead tired on his feet, whispering <em>Eret, how could you? </em>to the air, but he hears none of it.</p><p>Tubbo’s sitting by the front with Fundy, looking over their meager supplies. His hands are shaking and Fundy’s fur sticks up — and both of them still looking shell-shocked, like they just can’t shake off this feeling of a dream gone bad — like a nightmare turned reality because <em>this is wrong, wrong, wrong; it wasn’t supposed to go like this.</em></p><p>Tommy slams the door to the Camarvan as he ventures out, his blood pounding with adrenaline. He’s always felt anger — he used it as an outlet and he used it as a weapon sharp enough to cut through bullshit, but he has never felt this kind of rage before.</p><p>The door opens again, and Fundy stumbles out with the other two in tow. “Tommy?” Wilbur warningly calls out as the teen steps into knee-high water and waddles out further.</p><p>Tommy pays them no mind as he cups his hands to his mouth. “I know you can <em>fucking</em> hear me, dickheads,” he yells up at the cobblestone walls. “And I know you can hear this, you <em>traitor.”</em></p><p>Someone grabs his arm, and suddenly, Fundy is by his side, yanking at him. “<em>What are you doing</em>,” he hisses as he tries to pull Tommy away from the cobblestone walls.</p><p>The blond stands his ground, and venom simmers in his gut. He ignores Fundy’s protests and looks up. “So listen to me, Eret. And I mean this is the nicest way possible,” he calls out with hard eyes on that tiny speck of white he sees strolling around on the top of the walls like a fucking pompous bitch. “<em>You fucked up.</em>”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>PM</b>
</p><p><b>WILBY: </b>do we have anything to our canonical names dream??</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: because i’m staring at the fucking script and i see nothing</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: haha yeah</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: i am this fucking close to choke slamming you to the pavement</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: how close exactly</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: you have twenty seconds before i jump you</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: do you even know how to choke slam</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: i’ll bribe punz to do it for me</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: okay okay </p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: just asked philza and callahan. tubbo has absolutely nothing as canonically stated</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: </p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: tommy has a diamond chest plate, a shield and an iron helmet. maybe i’ll let him have a damaged diamond sword and an iron axe</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: and his discs i guess</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: sounding a bit better</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: fundy... has a crayon suit</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: what exactly are you asking from him? pastel-colored dye?</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: fuck.</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: we’re screwed, aren’t we</p><p><b>GREEN BOI:</b> well i mean it’s time for surrender according to the script</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: *temporary surrender</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: haha yeah totally</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: god bless philza minecraft for being l’manberg’s saving grace</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: right</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: it was callahan who actually vouched for you</p><hr/><p><b>WILBY: </b>dream</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: yes</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: at least you can’t do anything worse than that right?</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: please tell me there can be nothing else worse than that</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: reassure me dream</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: why are we texting again...?</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: because tommy doubts me and i cannot let him know about the fact that i know nothing</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: right before filming?</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: stop avoiding the question</p><p><b>WILBY</b>: answer me dream</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: haha yeah definitely haha yep</p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: the producers authorized these scenes it’s all good to go yep everything is gonna turn out fine</p><p><strong>WILBY</strong>: thank you that definitely does not sound suspicious </p><p><b>GREEN BOI</b>: can we start the scene now </p><p><b>WILBY</b>: of course yes absolutely<b></b></p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP; SEASON ONE, EPISODE 7: MY L’MANBERG (PT. 3)</strong>
</p><p>“Independence or death,” Wilbur starts to say, with hard eyes and a cold glare at the five people on the other side. “If we get no revolution, then we want <em>nothing. </em>We would rather die — than give in to you, and join your SMP,” he spits out at them.</p><p>Dream’s hand calmly settles on top of the block of TNT by the entrance, and the four other people tense up. Wilbur sweeps his eyes across them — across the traitor and the tyrant who started all this, and he knows that <em>it’s nothing. </em>One block of TNT will do nothing to them, and surely Dream knew how stupid that was? </p><p>But then, he can’t see his face or any of Dream’s emotions right now — so he eggs him on and forces him to toe the line.</p><p>“You can light <em>any </em>piece of TNT by our door all you want, but it means nothing to us,” he bites as the other four people behind Dream slowly back away from the entrance. “So you can go ahead — and do whatever the fuck you want. Go on.”<br/><br/>Beside him, Tommy snickers. “Look at him — prancing around in his gear,” he whispers, and he’s <em>right</em>. Why were they geared up for a little explosion when they knew that the L’Manbgerians basically had <em>nothing? </em></p><p>Wilbur does push him back a little as Dream methodically picks up the flint and steel to make a spark — and while Wilbur knows that one little explosion meant nothing, something horrible churns in his gut. It’s <em>Dream — Dream </em>in their land, in their territory with a cold fury for them fighting back against his tyranny. </p><p>Fundy picks up on his sudden worry and walks back. Wilbur slowly backs away, pushing everybody behind him as the string catches on fire. “Get back, get back—“</p><p>The TNT goes off, and the ground in front of them blows up.</p><p>Revealing more TNT. </p><p>Fundy frantically tugs on his arm and there is <em>shouting</em> and  Wilbur shoves the other two teenagers into the water behind them — then he hears nobody and nothing but a loud, painful ringing in his ears as he stumbles over coarse dirt and runs for the water.</p><p>Suddenly, the ground lashes at him with fire that sears at his skin and <em>burns his flesh </em>and then world is lit in flashes of angry orange and red.</p><p>He dives for the water, barely submerged in it as somebody drags him down and underneath the waves — and suddenly, there is nothing but darkness.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>WAREHOUSE SET; TOMMY’S UNDERGROUND OBSIDIAN BASE</strong>
</p><p>“You are such a <em>bitch</em>,” Tommy complains to a dripping Wilbur, who’s also grumpy and completely miserable. And who the gremlin was holding by the cravat. “You told me it wasn’t gonna get worse.”</p><p>”Dream said it wouldn’t,” Wilbur retorts as Tommy drops him, and he dramatically lies down on the floor. “I don’t trust Dream anymore.”</p><p>So here they are — after that complete turn of events and Fundy thinks that they don’t have to right to act as miserable when they’re not the ones weighted down by a costume — and the <em>fucking </em>tail and ears props while trying to swim through a goddamn lake.</p><p>He squeezes out more water out of his tail. Tubbo hands him his ears back, squeezed to the best of his abilities — which is still pretty wet, but not as soaked as it was fifteen minutes ago, so he appreciates the notion.</p><p>And he can’t even blame the brunette, because both of them are shivering in their heavy and soaked clothes. At least Tubbo bothered helping him at all.</p><p>”You should’ve never trusted him in the first place,” Tubbo shivers through that sentence, futilely holding his coat closer to him. Fundy knows it’s futile because he tried it himself about ten minutes ago, and only got even colder.</p><p>”We are <em>all </em>going to get sick by the end of this,” Fundy complains as he also tries to huddle closer to his wet coat anyways, and knocks impatiently on the walls of the small constructed room for them.</p><p>Somebody outside the room loudly sighs, and Fundy tries to remember his mantra of <em>murder not pog, murder bad, do not commit homicide</em> as his eye twitches<em>. </em>“Give us a few to set the lighting up!” They holler back and everybody in the small room just sags under the prospect of having to endure this cold hell for any longer.</p><p>Tommy, Wilbur and Tommy invite him in to a group huddle, which is basically a weak synonym for a <em>very miserable group hug</em> — and Fundy mentally cringes at the fact of having to touch ice-cold skin and equally-soaked clothes for <em>warmth</em>.</p><p>Fundy misses the old simple days of chasing after kids and threatening murder. He huddles with them, anyways.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>BY THE PRIME PATH, OUTSIDE SET, BEFORE FILMING</b>
</p><p><em>You are so sick for this, </em>Callahan signs at him.</p><p>Phil doesn’t give him any reaction, but the steady flat line of his mouth does drop. A little. He hasn’t perfected the poker face yet, alright? He just... angles his head a little at Callahan and shrugs in <em>what can you do? </em>sort of way.</p><p>He’s not voluntarily doing this — it was Wilbur’s one last request before he grabbed the arc’s writing away from the director’s hands and gave it to Dream. Nevertheless, both Tommy and Wilbur were excited for this duel bit that was directly inspired from <em>Hamilton</em>, and Phil can’t really do anything about it.</p><p>He just sighs at the other producer and waves him away to manage the props or some shit. They’re just supervising, both hands on set — because both directors were participating in the scene. </p><p>To be fair, they could’ve gotten either Bad or Sam to supervise — but the producers were surprisingly available and not swamped with appointments, so. </p><p>A bit far away from them, Wilbur busted out the boombox he stole from Phil <em>(the very same </em>fucking<em> boombox that Wilbur made fun of him for owning and being a boomer or something)</em> and now everybody below was jamming to Hamilton as production crew adjusted the lights and made a couple of changes to the set.</p><p>(And Phil doesn’t need to see him to know that it was probably Wilbur horribly beat-boxing to <em>Ten Duel Commandments</em> while Tommy and Tubbo shouted the lyrics. God.)</p><p>Callahan understands Phil’s problem, and gives him a thumbs-up as he sarcastically salutes Phil, a slight curl to his mouth. Because both of them know how this whole thing goes — Phil is gonna get shit for this once Dream snitches to the other two, and it is going to be a massive headache once it’s all over.</p><p><em>Have fun, </em>Callahan signs with a smile as he walks away to drive the nail home — because the other producer has this occasional side-hobby of making fun of his pain. </p><p>Phil massages his temples, and calls out for the camera. He can feel the headache coming, and he just wants to get this shit over with.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>BY THE PRIME PATH, OUTSIDE SET, DURING FILMING</b>
</p><p>“Ten paces — fire!”</p><p>Tommy turns around and aims for the green bastard’s back.</p><p>Of course. The universe isn’t always on his side. Despite all the archery training, his aim still <em>kind of</em> sucks, but Dream tenses up and veers sideways to avoid the oncoming arrow.</p><p>The director aims for him and Tommy jumps off the prime path and into the water as instructed, holding his breath and already feeling miserable from the cold, cold water seeping into his clothes. He goes up to breathe and to fire again, but he sinks his head under water again in time to avoid an arrow sinking a few inches in front of his face.</p><p>Tommy hides underneath the wooden path and gets up on the other side, with a grimace and a silent <em>I fucking hate the water </em>when he shakes the droplets out of his eyes. When he notches his next arrow, it almost catches Dream in the shoulder.</p><p>Then, Tommy blinks his fucking eyes, and the next thing he knows is that Dream’s next arrow almost barely touches his left side. </p><p>His instincts are still yelling <em>fuck ‘im up! </em>with all of the spite he can muster, but the stage combat choreography says otherwise. He goes down with a pained yell, dramatically clutching his wound. And that should’ve been it, but it gets ruined by his immediate instinctive yelp as he stumbles backwards and lands in the water, wincing.</p><p>He knows it’s an immediate mistake when he rises too quickly out of the water, but by then, the cameras would be cut as he floats in relative silence. He knows that the production crew should’ve been gearing up for a retake of his mistake and Phil should’ve called for the cut and Tommy should’ve been shoved into another wardrobe session as they made him change out of his soaked costume or some shit. </p><p>None of those things happen, and Tommy still floats, defeated on the water, wondering <em>why the hell </em>when a shadow falls over him and he freezes on the spot.</p><p>Why the fuck were they still doing this? He was already shot. The scene was over and he thought that he could finally change out of his wet costume — <em>so</em> <em>what the fuck is this. </em>Why is Wilbur suddenly pale as hell in the background? Why hasn’t Phil called the cut yet?</p><p>“You’re not dead.” Dream clinically notes as he steps closer, voice cold and face still hidden behind the creepy fucking mask he wore. He tilts his head like a condescending bitch at Tommy, and he remembers the sole reason why he’s pissed off at this bastard. “Yet.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Tommy spits, rolling his eyes back as he curls closer to himself, forgetting all of Fundy’s earlier remarks about how ineffective it was. Everything feels so heavy with his waterlogged clothes, and it’s getting really uncomfortable in the water when it dawns on Tommy as the arrow flies towards him.</p><p><em>Dream fucking </em>missed <em>his killing shot.</em></p><p>Tommy almost bursts into hysterical laughter and almost ruins the moment, but he goes along with the flow as he sees the camera point-blank in his face, and sinks down dramatically on his back.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit</strong>
</p><p>I am so fucking cold. All this and for what</p><p>
  <em>2.1K comments and 2.5K retweets</em>
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  <em>81K likes</em>
</p><p><b>Dream✔️|@Dream</b> <em>replied to your tweet</em></p><p>don’t you remember, tommy? it’s for your country and for your discs :)</p><p><b>TommyInnit |@tommyinnit</b> <em>replied to Dream</em></p><p>Oh fuck you big man. Didn’t you miss. Or some shit earlier</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>PM</strong>
</p><p><strong>D-MONEY: </strong>tommy</p><p><b>COPPA (NOT FOR FUCKING KIDS)</b>: Yes</p><p><b>D-MONEY: </b>please shut up </p><p>
  <em><b>COPPA (NOT FOR FUCKING KIDS)</b> changed your name to <b>green bitch.</b></em>
</p><p>
  <b>green bitch:</b>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so a couple of things to note:<br/>1. this happened in TWO WEEKS, and it took a little longer to bring out episode 6. remember that <i>by the time episode 6 gets posted, they’re almost done editing/working on episode 7,</i> so that there’s always content to put out consistently.<br/>2. niki started out as prop dep, and got promoted as a costume designer after moving departments during pre-production. occasionally dabbles in make-up.<br/>3. tubbo isn’t part of tech support, but he does occasionally help out :DD<br/>4. i am going to rewrite episdoe 7 to fit at least one (1) hamilton reference i cant believe i forgot that<br/>5. dream missed his shot, and philza didn’t cut the cameras, so dream took it as a cue to take another shot at tommy if you got confused by that.<br/>6. they have no group chat yet which is why i am having so much trouble trying to be patient. it will happen sometime around. episode 14.<br/>7. from this episode onward, Dream SMP will rebrand to Dream SMP: L’Manberg. why didn’t i start to call to it that in the first place? because... world-building/establishment first folks.<br/>8. remember fundy n eret’s thing from last chapter’s nightly shenanigans? yeah. i will address it at a later chapter. it is not related to things.<br/>9. despite being on the tech crew n special effects team, fundy is just as surprised and confused as the rest despite being the one who tested the mechanical doors of eret’s final control room with tubbo (remember wilbur’s comment about something something tech) because he hasn’t been informed of anything. he was just asked to look at things, and thank god fundy didn’t pry right</p><p>cant promise anything, but expect next chapter this february. that’s all i can say for today.</p><p>please leave a comment for feedback, as i kind of dislike my writing. too wordy? too long? too much going on at the same time? jumps too much? i’d love to hear your thoughts! :]</p><p>in the meantime, if you’d like, you can always check on my other works to see what i write normally when i’m not on crack, and if any of yall remember where the pet wars [starring fundy &amp; sapnap &amp; niki &amp; punz] vod is, please lmk as i cannot find the full one and all i can find are clips :( </p><p>have fun and good day yall :)!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. niki’s interlude (episode ?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which the SMP welcomes a new player in. Welcome folks — to Niki’s interlude.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>chapter 10 was bigger than how i planned it to be, so you get niki’s off-screen, pre-debut scene in it’s 1k entirety. i just wanted to show how much i loved her and eret’s friendship thing here, plus. kings n queens supporting each other. i hope you enjoy this lol</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>COSTUME DEPARTMENT</strong>
</p><p>“I think I should just... you know. Shed the cape.”</p><p>Niki gives him a look over, and fastens the chains to the mantle’s clasp. She stands back and gestures for him to turn. “Please don’t<em>.”</em></p><p>Eret playfully scowls as he pulls at one of the ends of the mantle, but he cooperates. “It is too stuffy and I <em>cannot</em> move without tripping,” he says, waving his arms as he slowly turns around. “Why can’t I wear my heels again?”</p><p>”I think it’s because you’re already as tall as Dream,” Niki off-handedly says, remembering the little sticky note she found lying on her work desk about three hours ago that said: <em>for the love of god please do NOT let eret wear heels. my intimidation factor is going to be destroyed and i will be nothing but a laughingstock i am begging please. </em>“I guess he won’t be as intimidating as he would have been in your next scene if you towered over him with the,” - Niki gestures with her hands - “The <em>glowing eyes</em> thing.”</p><p>Her friend scoffs as Niki cracks a smile. “It’s not my fault if I’m sick of the bullshit he keeps pulling. And it’s certainly not my fault if <em>I </em>end up intimidating him instead,” Eret grumbles as he hitches up both sides of the mantle until none of the fabric touches the floor. </p><p>Niki sighs and reaches forward, untangling the clasp. It’s not even the final design for Eret’s kingly costume — just prototypes that the costume department wants him to try out for. </p><p>And prototypes can change. She shrugs and takes it off his shoulders. At least he’s not wearing the cravat and the full package yet, because if he’s already complaining about how hot it is inside the stuffy dressing room with the cape, Niki can’t imagine how much he’ll suffer under the full outfit. “Alright,” she relents as she turns away. “I’ll let the people know.”</p><p>Eret nudges her and holds out his hands. “I’ll let them know myself,” he gently says as she lets him take the cape from her hands. “Maybe I could convince them to let me have a L’Manbergian-style king coat. Who knows?”</p><p>Niki chuckles as he lays it down on a chair on top of a pile of clothes that either didn’t really fit or didn’t spell out <em>Eret </em>in the unmistakably confident way he wore his own clothes. She just continues looking through the wardrobe as he poked through the drawers.</p><p>“Speaking of costumes, how are your designs? I trust that Wilbur got them approved?” Eret offhandedly asks, examining one of the costume props.</p><p>She winces a little from where she’s standing, buried in inch-thick fabric and scratchy clothes. “They’re... fine.”</p><p>She doesn’t have to turn to hear or see the frown in his voice. “They’re <em>fantastic</em>, Niki. Was there something wrong with the fabric...?”</p><p>“No — the tailors did a great job! I just haven’t... worn them. Yet.”</p><p>Eret pauses from where he was, setting down one of the ornately-designed brooches set aside for a cloak. It’s the one who had black fire etched on gold, and it’s pretty beautiful. They both loved it, but it’s just that Eret didn’t really have a fire motif associated with him - maybe it’ll work for Sapnap the next time he stopped by. “Don’t you have your opening scene later?”</p><p>“It’s after my costume test,” Niki scrunches her nose at the prospect of the dreaded wirework that every cast member suffered through. It was like some rite of passage for every Dream SMP member, and one that she didn’t look forward to. “But I <em>have</em> put them on, though. During pre-production. I just haven’t felt like wearing them again until they call me up for the costume test. Maybe not for a while... at least.”</p><p>She picks up one of the other king-styled coats that they had hanging in the back of the closet. <em>Probably a forgotten prop left behind by one of the actors who had to participate in Fundy’s impromptu Macbeth production? </em>It’s not anything close to Eret’s size, but she holds it up to him anyways. “What do you think of this?”</p><p>“It’s great, Niki,” Eret patiently says, taking it from her hands and adding it to the pile of clothes waiting on Eret’s poor chair. “I promise that I’ll check it out with the other costume designers with you later. But if you don’t mind me asking - are you alright? You usually don’t mind when you wear the costume before the costume test.”</p><p>Niki huffs and relents. “<em>Yes. Well,</em> <em>I don’t know</em> - it’s nothing that special,” she spills. “The costume test is basically just me in my L’Manberg uniform and the usual casual wear - I just don’t really see why I’d have to wear them in advance when I’m not a part of L’Manberg.”</p><p>”Yet.” Eret follows up. “You know Wilbur would be absolutely heartbroken if you didn’t join his side.”</p><p>”And he knows I <em>will</em> join him. I’m just not ready to put on the actual L’Manberg uniform yet. You know it means big things. It’s a big show - with tons of people and... I’m sorry, Eret.”</p><p>“Hey.” Eret clears one of the chairs, unceremoniously dumping the mantle and everything else on top of a pile of another mess of clothes as he beckons Niki to sit.</p><p>“There’s nothing wrong with being nervous, Niki,” he offers as he presses the brooch - the earlier one with the ornate design of a flame etched on the surface - into her open palm. “It’s your first time, and you’re gonna be great. You’ll be nothing but fantastic! I can already tell that the people will love you.”</p><p>She laughs, but it’s still a little hesitant as she sets it down on the table. “We <em>can’t</em> know that yet, but thank you anyways.”</p><p>“You run your own independent bakery and you have the time to work on Wilbur’s passion project with the make-up and prop dep because you <em>could. </em>You’ve also passed auditions - and not because you know Wilbur. You’re <em>you</em> and you are <em>talented</em>. There is no way that people will not love you.”</p><p>“This is really just flattery now,” Niki jokingly notes, but she really appreciates the hype. True friendship and all that. “But I appreciate it a lot, Eret. Thank you.”</p><p>“Not flattery if it’s true, and nothing but support for my queen,” He says with a smile. “Do you want to try on one of the cottagecore dresses with me while I wait out the Dream scene? If you feel like taking a mini-photo shoot with me, of course.”</p><p>Niki smiles back, momentarily forgetting the costume thing — but she’s willing to let of it for the moment, as Eret pulls out one of the outfits. It’s not a dress — it’s more of a simple white dress shirt with long sleeves and cuffs, along with a flowy green skirt that had a couple of long straps.</p><p>She smiles, and when she does, she means it. </p><p>It’s her own design, a little something she submitted a long time ago. When she helps tie the green straps into a bow behind his back while he smoothens the skirt over the pants he wore, she can’t help but notice how much he fits it like a glove. Dress shirt, golden cufflinks and all that.</p><p>“Weren’t these designs hidden?” She jokes as he bends down, and she carefully tucks the flower crown in his curls. </p><p>Eret’s expression blanks as he backs away slightly. He then proceeds to pull a pumpkin out of nowhere with a dramatic flourish, and tucks it in the crook of his elbow. If she didn’t know him, she would’ve had a heart attack. “What can I say? I just have my ways.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(p.s if you saw chapter ten being posted? no you didn’t. i will be going over it and posting it twelve hours from now w/ a new scene to make up for me removing this long-ass snippet.)</p><p>also the fire brooch thing is foreshadowing. we all know what this is going to mean Soon</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. my l’manberg, pt. 4 (episode 8)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A few more players are introduced to the server.</p><p>[the author’s dreaded filler episode ft. a pub quiz, mentions of tommy’s phantom membrane drug cartel and niki nihachu. god bless niki nihachu.]</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>here’s the promised episode 8, but like. twelve hours later. </p><p>despite this being a dreaded filler episode, i think i like this chapter best out of everything i’ve written yet. i don’t know why, though. </p><p>also. i get to update the tags and refine everything about this fic, which is such a relief. i looked back over it and my writing style has improved SO much over the course of three months and i’m so happy :DD! things are going to be more cleaner from now on, and holy shit i’m excited to write the pogtopia arc. only *checks outline* five or four episodes. mmmmmmmmm 12k words to go</p><p>as usual, wrote this in the evening and everything suddenly looks so grmatically wrong when i go over it in the morning. will be heavily editing this later :)</p><p>have fun and enjoy :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>DREAM SMP: L’MANBERG; SEASON ONE, EPISODE 8: MY L’MANBERG (PT. 4)</strong>
</p><p>”You’re up late.”</p><p>Eret sighs as he drops his pencil down on the table, resisting the urge to shudder from the goosebumps that rise along the back of his arms. <br/><br/>He doesn’t look back at the man who drops through his window as he stretches his hand, careful not to smudge the lead on the large piece of paper on the table. “Really? I didn’t notice.”</p><p>If Dream hears the bite in his voice, he doesn’t show it. He just continues on the conversation like he’s not holding some kind of metaphorical blade to Eret’s throat the moment he says another thing out of line. “What’s that you’re working on?” The hooded man chooses to ask curiously instead, as he peeks over Eret’s shoulder.</p><p>He resists the urge to elbow him in the stomach as he leans back. “Nothing much,” Eret replies, rubbing at his eyes. He picks up the pencil again. “Just plans for the castle to be built.”</p><p>Dream hums as he drops back, and settles on one of the armchairs scattered in Eret’s temporary base. He remembers it was a gift from Fundy before the war started, and he barely restrains himself from snapping at Dream.</p><p>“You should go to sleep, you know,” he says after a while, watching Eret correct his lines and scribble something on the sides. “The castle can always wait.”</p><p>He frowns as he marks down the type of stone to use and a more detailed list of blocks for the indoor pond he had in mind. “I would, but you know I can’t.” <em><br/></em></p><p><em><strong>You </strong>can’t even go to sleep </em>remains unsaid.</p><p>The hooded man doesn’t say anything to that. Both of them don’t really say anything for a long time, even after Eret’s eyelids grow heavy and his grip on the pencil stutters and the crown on his head almost slips a few times. He takes into consideration about the stock of drinks he has hidden under his desk, and opens one up.</p><p>“Hey Dream,” he says after a while in the middle of the night, when sleep had numbed his mind and his tongue got a little looser with every single sip he took from a bottle gifted by an old friend. He’s not usually this blunt and bold with Dream - but the drink <em>does</em> make him feel braver than usual.</p><p>“Mhm?” The masked man hums. </p><p>”How are you so <em>sure?</em>”</p><p>”So sure of...?”</p><p>Eret shrugs, folding his shades and setting them down. “Victory,” he says simply. “Power. How are you so sure that it’ll all stick?”</p><p>”...That’s a very loaded question, Eret.”</p><p><em>I know. </em>“Mind entertaining it, then?”</p><p>“Well... for starters, it’s not a <em>how</em>,” Dream says as Eret faces him with glowing eyes and the bottle of liquid courage in his hand. It’s almost tempting to stare at its’ glowing contents rather than facing the person in front of him. “It’s a <em>what.”</em></p><p>“And <em>what</em> is?” </p><p>”I have <em>what</em> they want, and I’ve given them <em>what</em> they think they have,” The masked man simply continues as he waves his hands, and shows him the discs as he slides it out of his inventory and Eret can’t help the frown that pulls at his lips as the other turns it over in his own hands. </p><p>Cat and Mellohi’s edges dig sharply into Dream’s palms, but Eret knows that Dream doesn’t care about the pain it caused, and it raises the hairs on the back of his arms again. “And as long as I’ve got <em>what</em> they want, I have them where I want them - and they’ll always bend, when given enough time.”</p><p>He hasn’t noticed Dream’s ceramic mask laying down on the arm of his chair until they stare at each other, and something churns in his gut.</p><p>“After all,” the blond snarks as he leans forward with gleaming green eyes, and Eret’s back straightens as he pulls himself to his full height. It’s a staring contest, but it’s not just that. It’s a <em>test, </em>and Eret wants to laugh. “<em>I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I?”</em></p><p>His eyes hurt first, and he forces his fingernails not to dig into his palms. His eyes hurt because everything is suddenly flashing like the pulse of a wild, fast beat that Eret can’t keep up with <em>and </em>his eyes can’t handle light <em>that</em> bright. Maybe he’s hallucinating the flashing light or maybe it just hurt from the small amount of strong alcohol he consumed — either way, he looks away first from the stand-off, trying to blink it away.</p><p>It takes Eret a long time to recover from the eye strain as he stared at his desk, before his shaking hands slide the shades back on, aware of his loss in his own composure. There’s no lights except for one flickering flame held by a torch on a wall and the light that came with dawn — but none of those are bright enough, and he’s sure it wasn’t a hallucination.</p><p>It’s not the first time he’s ever had to deal with the sickening guilt and shame curling in his gut as his head tips from the weight of the crown as he gets reminded of the power a server owner possessed, and he can’t do anything but <em>bend.</em></p><p>It won’t ever be the last, either.</p><p>He looks back once before he leaves his house to clear his own head.</p><p>Dream may be gone, but the mask remains untouched on the arm of the chair with little flickering imprints, the remnants of tampered code correcting itself — like a reminder and like a warning, against the dim light of the rising sun.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>IN THE HTO DOG VAN; OUTDOOR SET</strong>
</p><p>“Tommy,” Jack calls out for the fifteenth fucking time, or something along those lines. </p><p>The other teen doesn’t respond. Instead, he sits on the counter of the hto dog van and sulks with an earbud in his ear as he looked out the window. </p><p>It’s like a scene out of a melodrama, only missing the rain pouring outside and some sad lighting. Jack rolls his eyes, and ducks inside the van. </p><p>He makes sure to be within Tommy’s hearing range when he cups his hands around his mouth and yells. “Hey, <em>Tommy</em>.”</p><p>”<em>What the fuck,</em>” Tommy immediately bellows as his head snaps to look at him, almost falling off the counter.</p><p>”Why are you playing <em>One Last Time?</em>” Jack asks, leaning on the same countertop, making sure that he’s far enough to not be kicked in the chest. “I think it’s too early to be crying out to Washington’s goodbye.”</p><p>The blond’s eyes narrow as he steadies himself on the countertop. “<em>How the fuck do you know that.</em>”</p><p>The older teen shrugs, and taps the spot near Tommy’s phone, sitting on marble. “You didn’t plug in the earbuds, idiot.”</p><p>He groans and snatches his phone, grumbling under his breath as he pointedly plugged it in. “Jack Manifold, you are such a fucking <em>jackass</em>,” Tommy mumbles angrily, before looking up to stare him in the face, scrutinizing him like he can’t quite believe that Jack’s on set. “Why the fuck are you here?”</p><p>“You promised me a tour before the screening tests,” Jack reminds him. “So, why are you sulking again?”</p><p>“I didn’t promise you that tour — Tubbo fucking roped me into it,” Tommy corrects him as Jack backs off until there’s enough room for the blond to swing his legs down on the counter. “And I wasn’t <em>sulking</em>. I’m <em>brooding</em>. Like a man.”</p><p>The memory of <em>Tommy’s cross-legged sit beside the fragile glass window with the amount of emotion Jack would only find in a soap opera</em> hits him again. “Yep, brooding like a man, definitely,” he says, avoiding Tommy’s glare as the he looked the younger teen up and down. “So why are you brooding... in costume?”</p><p>“I’ve been in hiding ever since the disc scene. Didn’t bother changing out of costume. That is all,” He waves off, even though it is clearly not all of it.</p><p>”Well, hiding behind a very clear glass window isn’t one of your smartest ideas, Tommy,” Jack remarks as the blond teen bristles. <em>Okay then? </em>Jack’s not going to pry about it if the other didn’t want to talk about it. “Come on, and get off the counters. You know <em>you </em>agreed to give me a tour and you clearly want to take your mind off the discs thing, so.”</p><p>Tommy flips him off as he huffs. “Tubbo could’ve given a better one to you, you know.”</p><p>”Yeah — but Tubbo’s asleep in the trailer, and you and I both know that we do not want to wake Tubbo up,” Jack responds. “Besides, you being <em>a horrible tour guide</em> would be better than seeing <em>you</em> <em>miserably emote through the goddamn window</em>.”</p><p>The blond huffs as he hops down from the counter. “Oh, shut up, <em>Jackshit Manifold</em>. Fine. I’ll fucking take you to that fucking tour.”</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>NIKI’S HOUSE</strong>
</p><p>“Wil, this looks... really ominous,” Niki notes, looking behind Wilbur to see the dramatic dark hallways of her home. Why didn’t he just close the door if he didn’t want her to look? “Am I going to be shot here?”</p><p>Wilbur blinks at her. “No? Why would you— <em>oh</em>.”</p><p>She raises an eyebrow at him. </p><p>He holds a hand out as if to stop her, ducks inside and flips the switch. The inside lights glow like something you’d expect to find in a pixie-like forest, with soft light that washed over the rough stone carved by the cliffside. </p><p>“Okay. I swear to God - <em>that wasn’t me this time,</em>” he winces as he lets her in, and suspiciously blocks one of the hallways. “So. Uh, you know how we went to exhibitors last week, yeah?” </p><p>“The animal shelter one...?”</p><p>“Yep! That one, and you said you wanted to adopt one of them, if possible?”</p><p>She smiles a little at the memory of a tiny red fox stretching in the corner as Fundy waddled over with Tubbo and fawned over it. The little thing was cute, and Niki never expected a infamously nippy fox breed to be <em>sweet</em>. Too bad that the animal shelter had said that they couldn’t let them borrow it as it was privately bred, and only suitable for adoption, as it wasn’t trained for filming purposes.</p><p>“If possible,” she cautiously responds, as Wilbur nods and stands aside, letting her enter the doorway he blocked, which was her room. “Why are you asking...?”</p><p>She freezes in place.</p><p>”We wanted to surprise you,” Wilbur remarks with a toothy grin as she calmly approaches. “And by <em>we, </em>I mean Fundy chipped in, and personally oversaw the first training session too.”</p><p>A laugh bubbles from her as she knelt a little bit away from the bed to read the sign hanging from one of the nearby indoor bushes she kept for decoration.</p><p><em><b>SPINNING FOX BY FUNDY :D</b> </em>is scrawled messily in black marker, with a tiny <em><b>tubbo was heer too</b> </em>in the corner.</p><p>Niki turns to gaze at the little red fox peering back at her, trying not to scare it. Her heart melts when Wilbur kneels down with her too.</p><p>She waves a little at it. “Hi, little boy.”</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DMS</strong>
</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Tommy</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Oh thank fucking god</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: ???</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Thank god you started answering your phone</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: You need to come with</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Now that youre awake please take jack manifold off my hands my drug cartel isnt gonna generate money by itself</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: The what</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Nevermind Im not even surprised. And the drug thing didnt work the first time around</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Also, youre stuck with him. Good luck</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: I cant read well in text but you dont sound that surprised. Given that nobody told us when he’d be coming on set</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: He trespassed on private property earlier and I saw him</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: And by that I mean he tried to prod me awake earlier when he snuck into the very private shared van of ours</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: L</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Shut it and stop derailing me from my question</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Where are you??</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: With callahan in his office</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>:</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: What?</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Does this have anythign to do with the missing phantom membrane props that he keeps asking people about</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: It is none of your Business. Kindly fuck off</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>BY THE STUDIO</strong>
</p><p>“So... how was the fox?”</p><p>Niki can’t stop smiling. Her cheeks are starting to hurt ever since Wilbur left to prepare for the improvised pub quiz on his brand new Twitch channel — and she still hasn’t stopped now that they’ve safely transported <em>Fungi</em> into a wide enclosure made just for him.</p><p>“He’s so cute,” She fondly says, when she turns around to hug him. “Thank you so much, Fundy.”</p><p>“I’m glad you liked it,” he sincerely replies for a moment, before he hugs her back too. “It’s L’Manberg’s fox now.”</p><p>From behind him, Eret rolls his eyes and nudges Fundy. “Nah, it’s Niki’s now,” he cheerfully interjects as they separate with identical toothy grins. “Does the little guy have a name yet?”</p><p>“I’m naming him Fungi,” she off-handedly says, staring Fundy.</p><p>”<em>Do not.</em>”</p><p>”After my favorite fox,” she finishes with as much love as she can muster, smiling sweetly when Fundy makes a face at her.</p><p>“To be fair? You do look like relatives,” Eret adds amusedly, leaning on the chainlink walls of the enclosure. “It’s almost like... you share a familial resemblance.”</p><p>“Shut the fuck up,” Fundy retorts, but all of them know that he doesn’t mean anything by the bite in his voice. “See if I ever talk to you again, you <em>bastard</em>.”</p><p>Eret pauses. “I’m always the first person you talk to during your crises, Fundy,” he notes in a falsely cheerful voice. “I think I’m going to start leaving you on read.”</p><p>Fundy splutters as she and Eret both laugh under the cloudless blue sky in their little spot by themselves. It’s a perfect day in her book, if not a little hotter than usual.</p><p>They laugh like that for a while as Fundy grumbles and goes along with it. They talk and they hang out until the worst of the noon heat has passed and it bleeds into the afternoon, all alone and isolated in the woods of the outdoor set — until Eret has to leave for his own make-up session, and until Fungi paws through the chain link, whining.</p><p>And as much as Fundy vehemently protests the resemblance between <em>Fungi</em> and his own fox costume, he’s still the first one to open the enclosure and scoop it up.</p><p>”You know, Wilbur told me you sat out on his first training session,” Niki remarks as Fungi tries to nip at Fundy’s awaiting fingers. “Did you actually commission someone to train him?”</p><p>Fundy cracks a small smile. It’s not of the loud and bright ones, but it’s just as real and softer. “Yeah. Impulsive decision, I guess,” he shrugs. “I think it’s one of my best ones yet. I don’t regret it.”</p><p>It’s late afternoon, and as she sees the sun settle in the sky, she knows they’ll get called for prep before the actual pub quiz in a few. </p><p>Fundy knows it too. So when he settles Fungi back down and they both step out of the enclosure, he starts making sure to firmly lock the door in place. “If you don’t have anything to do after recording, wanna come with? I can take you to the trainer.”</p><p>They walk back to the studio in silence for a while, thinking it over. She has a bakery to run — but she knows that Bad would be happy to take over for a while and run it while she’s gone, and she has nothing else to do for the day. </p><p>“Sure,” she grins, and she keeps grinning when she walks inside. Her cheeks still hurt from all the constant smiling, but she’s happy and it’s all worth it.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DMS</strong>
</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Listen its been HOURS I do not believe youre still with callahan</p><p><b>TOOBSTER</b>: You really need to come</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: You have your read receipts on you are not avoiding this conversation Tommyinnit</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Okay fine. Whats going on</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: </p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Well</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Have you convenitnetly forgotten that you were assigned to Wil and Dream’s pub quiz after you draamtically left to sulk</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: </p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: I dont sulk. I’m a Big Man.</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>:</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Anyways, they are making me stand in for you as a host and Im not reading my own shit out loud</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: I can see you typing. If you fucking say L again im going to start Screaming</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: F</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>:</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Okay okay .</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Give me. Like three minutes to sort this out</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Phil and fundy and niki and eret and bad are already here. Dream and wilbur are also here. Youre just the last one missing</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Give me a break I already said Im going</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Hold on Badboyhalo isnt there yet he just passed and waved at us</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Hes wearing a headset and hes here for emotional support. Its good enough for us</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Well why cant I be there in spirit as a call from Wils phone.</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: </p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: I hope you remember that this is Wils twitch debut stream and hes counting on you to be there with him</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Fuck.</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Im going faster.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>BY THE DOCKS</strong>
</p><p>“True or false: who were the four founding fathers of America?”</p><p>Wilbur choked, his marker two inches away from the whiteboard. “<em>How is that true or false?</em>”</p><p>Tommy shrugs from his podium, peering at the cheat sheet in his hand. “Beats me. Can’t question the questionnaire, fellas.”</p><p>Tubbo snorts, and pushes Tommy over a little. “It’s wrong,” he explains. “You just have to list them.” </p><p>“No, that is <em>not</em> true, Tubbo.”</p><p>”It is! I <em>made</em> this quiz.”</p><p><em>“</em>Wilbur Soot, the moment you erase the last thing you wrote — <em>you’re out.</em> You lose a point,” Tommy loudly announces as Tubbo rolls his eyes and the director curses, while Dream stood a little too relaxed for Wilbur’s own comfort, a few meters across him.</p><p>Dream leans on his own whiteboard, halfway into giving up and halfway through a wheeze. “Isn’t there, like, <em>twelve</em> founding fathers...?” </p><p>”No. I know what I said, and I said <em>true or false, who were the four founding fathers of America</em> and I want to see that answer, <em>American</em>,” Tommy states as he flips a page, despite not getting past question eight yet. Behind him, Tubbo slaps a hand on his forehead.</p><p>Dream shrugs, and writes a big <b>True??? </b>on his whiteboard.<b></b></p><p>”Wrong! It’s Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton — and <em>fuck you</em>, you’ve got Washington on your side, <em>but you still didn’t get it,”</em> Tommy crows as Wilbur reveals his answer, clear as the cloudless blue sky above them. Tubbo throws his hands up and starts walking off. “Start paying attention to history class, <em>you green bitch.</em>”</p><p>Dream just shrugs at the convenient camera pointed at his face by Bad, and starts erasing.</p><p>It’s still a point that he pulls over the other director, so Wilbur mentally celebrates, patting himself on the back. It’s going to end on how it truly was supposed to be: with Wilbur’s win.</p><p>His victory is nothing but inevitable.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>DMS</strong>
</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: I know youre in the middle of hosting this thing</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: But I know I heard jack manifold screaming earlier please dont tell me you took one of the horses and left it somewhere</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Not my fault if he didnt take horse riding lessons. Hes never going to be fit as our Hercules Mulligan for dream.</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: Where is he.</p><p><strong>Big Man</strong>: Hes like a jackass. Hes fine</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>:</p><p><strong>TOOBSTER</strong>: What the fuck does that mean</p><hr/><p>
  <b>BY THE DOCKS</b>
</p><p>“Who’s the coolest <em>streamer</em> ever?”</p><p>Dream looks at Wilbur protectively hunching over his board as he silently wrote down his answer with a kind of tired resignation that made Dream a little wary. Because Tommy has a glint in his eyes, and there’s a horrible feeling of sudden wisdom in his gut.</p><p>“Are you sure that this isn’t rigged?” He faintly says, writing down his own answer.</p><p>Tommy shrugs. Tubbo, his co-host, has gone missing. Something about Jack Manifold, probably? Or maybe because Tommy hijacked the questionnaire, started making his own questions and Tubbo simply got tired of dealing with him. Either way, Dream doesn’t hold him to any fault. </p><p>“Nope,” the teen replies pleasantly, suddenly holding a <em>loaded</em> crossbow in his hands. Something he probably smuggled from the prop department, and it’s probably safe-proof’d. Dream still isn’t in the mood to get shot at, so he plays it safe. “Maybe you should just try getting good?”</p><p>Dream nearly scoffs as Wilbur pointedly coughs, and the twenty-second timer goes off.</p><p>Both directors silently raise their boards.</p><p>And as clear as day, <strong>TommyInnit </strong>stands, identically scribbled on both of their boards.</p><p>Tommy grins without another word. He lowers his crossbow as he loudly proclaims both of their gained points and moves on.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE</b>
</p><p>“So... How’s the flight?”</p><p>“You know I hate flying.” Skeppy rolls his eyes as he slams the tailgate shut on the trunk of the car, securing all his bags in place. “Now, who decided it was going to be a good idea to let <em>you</em> drive the car?”</p><p>Sapnap grins and dangles the keys in front of him. Skeppy just groans, because he recognizes the various keychains hanging on the key ring and he <em>can’t</em> believe Bad trusted the Texan with <em>driving</em>. “Bad’s helping with a livestream right now, and that’s why you’re stuck with <em>me</em> instead,” he smugly says as he presses a button on the key, unlocking the car. “I <em>know</em> you got the stream notification from the updates account on Twitter.”</p><p>“So <em>that</em> was why Twitter’s been on fire today,” he dryly notes, getting in. Maybe he regrets wearing a hoodie under hot weather, but the car <em>does </em>have air conditioning.</p><p>“Not the only reason why,” Sapnap adds distractedly, starting the engine and slapping Skeppy’s hand away from the radio controls with a glare. “Title changes to the official Twitter account to match the new arc, or something — and speaking of the new arc thing, Wilbur told me to say that he got a gift for you waiting at the studio.” </p><p>He slouches in the passenger seat. “That sounds ominous coming from him,” he remarks, looking out the window. “Is it possibly food?”</p><p>Sapnap’s nose scrunches as he takes a few turns here and there, and it’s a nice slow drive down a road that Skeppy barely remembers seeing. At least Sapnap’s driving was a lot more smoother now. “No? This is Wilbur <em>Screenwriter</em> Soot we’re talking about. You know he’s never going to leave anybody with edible food.”</p><p>They both wince at the memory of Wilbur’s self-cooked meals that he brought over whenever there was a writing session. </p><p>It’s not that bad. It could’ve used a little more work. And a hell lot more flavor. </p><p>”Okay, then,” Skeppy says after a while, when Sapnap seems like he’s done talking and reminiscing about the writing sessions. “So what’s that about?”</p><p>”Nothing much. Just lore-related sabotage against Dream, that kind of thing. I think he’s still salty from last episode’s plot twist,” The Texan pauses and squints at him, letting Skeppy bump his hand to turn the AC all the way to the highest possible setting. “<em>Dude</em>. Just take off your hoodie.”</p><p>”Too lazy to,” he replies without skipping a beat as the other slightly shivered. “Not my fault if it’s too hot down here, but the gift sounds cool. Anyways, how is Bad’s quest on baking muffins?”</p><p>If by some miracle of God that Sapnap takes the sudden change in topics without a question, nobody comments on it. “Those baking courses were the <em>best</em> things to ever happen to the breakroom’s oven. I am <em>not</em> even joking.” </p><p>“Now <em>I’m</em> getting jealous,” Skeppy notes with a small smile. “He told me he did this <em>BadBoyHalo</em> special muffin or something with Niki’s bakery. Was that one true?”</p><p>”Oh, <em>hell yeah. </em>He hangs out a lot with her too.” Sapnap grins, before looking at the radio flashing the current time at him. “You know, we’ve got time to spare before they get the Twitch stream over with, and I know that you hate waiting those out. Wanna head down to that bakery for a quick snack?”</p><p>And if Skeppy smiles a little brighter at the mention of his longtime friend when Sapnap purposely misses a street and takes a detour down town? That’s nobody’s business but his own.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TWITTER:<br/>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot</strong>
</p><p>i have been holding on to this for literal WEEKS. now that the episode 7 about to be out, i can finally say this with as much confidence as i want.</p><p>
  <em>2.3k comments, 2.1k retweets</em>
</p><p>
  <em>98.9k likes</em>
</p><p><strong>Wilbur Soot✔️|@WilburSoot</strong> <em>replied to their own tweet</em></p><p>YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SUCK IT GREEN BOIIIII</p><hr/><p>
  <b>DMS</b>
</p><p><strong>Dadza: </strong>Wil what did you do why are we on trending at 2 in the fucking morning</p><p><b>Dadza</b>: Oh for fucks sake</p><p><strong>Dadza</strong>: People are going feral from the prospect of an early release, Wil. You need to say something about this because we are NOT done editing yet</p><p><b>Dadza</b>: Wil now is not the time to be asleep</p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: good fucking morning i guess</p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: tommy spam-called me and hung up when i answered after he said something about talking to you </p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: what did i do now</p><p><b>Dadza</b>: What is that. On your twitter Wilbur.</p><p><b>dirty crime boi:</b> phil. i have not touched twitter in literal days </p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: i have genuinely not pulled it up on my phone since last week. what do you mean</p><p><b>Dadza</b>:</p><p><b>Dadza</b>: Okay. I believe you </p><p><b>Dadza</b>: But by some chance, did you mess up the date on a specific scheduled tweet from last week?</p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: how do you know i’ve scheduled a tweet from last week</p><p><b>Dadza</b>: <em>[screenshot of the tweet]</em></p><p><b>dirty crime boi</b>: oh FUCK</p><hr/><p>
  <b>DMS</b>
</p><p><b>captain callahand</b>: wilbur soot i am going to punt you into the goddamn sun</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>EDIT: GOT COPY-PASTED EARLIER AND THE CHAPTER RESULTED IN A DOUBLED WORD-COUNT. SORRY ABOUT THAT. IT’S BEEN FIXED!</p><p>i’m going to take my time writing these out, because as much as i’d love to continue working on this one fic alone with an actual upload schedule, i’m planning to release at least three fics this march, and one of them is fairly long. i can’t be working on multiple fics at the same time, but i just wanted to let you guys know that i will be roughly updating every two weeks. (note: fic is on hiatus. some stuff going on. will be using this account to post dsmpactors stuff, but all other fic concepts are discontinued. sorry guys)</p><p>P.S if you notice the chapter count go down yes i’ve taken down the personal hcs chap because idk for most readers, does the first page clutter it all for you? for me, i think it does, so i removed it. hcs twitter thread is still up on the #dsmpactors tag at @n_owsyy btw! </p><p>notes for this chapter include:<br/>- king eret lore we love to see it<br/>- worldbuilding mmm. i like the way how coding would’ve worked in a more realistic minecraft setting<br/>- jack manifold and tommyinnit interaction pog??<br/>- niki nihachu n her pet fox. fungi. i like writing fundy&amp;niki and wilbur&amp;niki’s interactions a lot :DD<br/>- the text messages are p fun<br/>- lmaooooo the actual pub quiz. i hope i had justice making those hilarious. it’s not accurate, more of based on it. you’ll know what i mean if you saw the stream 👍<br/>- skeppy and sapnap interaction pog??<br/>- mmmmmmm wilbur’s messed up his scheduled tweet i wonder how set behind the entire production crew (including the cast) will be by next chapter</p><p>comments n kudos encourage me a lot! i know i don’t respond to comments often and i’m sorry for that, but i appreciate every single one :DD! i hope you loved it so far!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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